Mokuba's Tutor
by Krazi
Summary: CHAPTER 13! KaibaOC. Mokuba's tutor has been given orders by the mafia to kill Kaiba. After she fails her mission, she and Kaiba run out of town. The mafia discovers them and decides to go trigger happy ...
1. Meet the Tutor

Welcome to MOKUBA'S TUTOR! This is the first story I wrote that I actually posted anywhere, so please be nice and don't flame! I only wrote this story up to a point, too, so if you have any suggestions (you KNOW you do), please let me know because I'll be writing what you want me to write! Here's another thing: the character Kea is based on me. Except my hair isn't that long and my boobs aren't as big as Kea's are. Heeeey it's a fictional story, I can look like whatever I wanna look like! *innocent smile* R&R please!!  
  
This isn't an AU, but people's ages are different. Here are the ages for Kaiba, Kea, and Mokuba. You'll find out about the other characters later.  
  
Kaiba: 18  
Kea: 17  
Mokuba: 14  
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Disclaimer: Ya know how you can tell Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine? ... There isn't a character based on me that goes out with Seto Kaiba. ^_^  
  
---------------Meet the Tutor---------------  
There was a knock on the front door of the Kaiba mansion, causing Seto Kaiba to look up from his laptop and sigh. "Mokuba, your tutor's here!" he called to his younger brother, who was now fourteen.  
  
"I don't want a tutor!" Mokuba yelled. His angry voice rang into the living room as the knocking on the door continued. "Why can't I just fail ninth grade in peace?!"  
  
"I'm not going to let you fail," Kaiba said protectively. He put his laptop down and walked over to the door, pulling it open only slightly to examine Mokuba's new tutor. He looked her up and down; she didn't exactly look like tutor material.  
  
She was wearing a plain pair of black boot cut jeans that weren't tight like the jeans other girls wore, and her shirt was obviously a few sizes too big. It was black, and in bold white letters had the words 'HI. DON'T LOOK AT MY SHIRT'. She had tied it in the back with a black rubber band, making the shirt appear to be smaller and showing off her curves just a bit. She had a black, mini backpack slung over one shoulder.  
  
The girl's skin was a cafe color, Kaiba could tell that she was obviously biracial; black and white. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a bun, covered almost entirely by a black scarf. A few strands had fallen over her face, attracting attention to the fact that she had on no make-up. Her deep brown eyes looked at him with a hint of boredom, as if she wasn't expecting much from this tutoring job. She was about five inches shorter than his 6'1" frame; tall for a girl Mokuba's age.  
  
Looking her up and down and taking in everything about her, Kaiba could tell that he wasn't going to like this girl. He thought about her whole appearance in general, and he came to the conclusion that the only thing attractive about her was her chest.  
  
"Hi," the girl said. "I'm Kea, I'm here to tutor Mokuba." When Kaiba didn't say anything, she continued a bit slowly. "I'm assuming you're Seto Kaiba ... Mokuba's older brother? Right?"  
  
Kaiba opened the door for Kea in one swift motion. "You should never assume things," he said, motioning for her to follow him inside. "But in this case, you happen to be right. Call me Kaiba."  
  
"Okay Kaiba," Kea said as she closed the door behind her and stepped down the two steps to the living room. She was ready to speak when Kaiba said,  
  
"Take a seat, I'd like to question you before you begin tutoring my brother."  
  
Kea sat down on the couch without a word and looked at Kaiba. She was used to being questioned by people, so she crossed her legs and prepared fro the quiz she was in for. "Shoot," she said.  
  
"How long have you been a tutor?" Kaiba asked.  
  
"Almost ten years," Kea replied. "I started tutoring my friends in math and stuff, but I began doing it as a part-time job since I was fourteen." Kaiba looked at her oddly, so she said, "I'm seventeen and a half."  
  
"Oh," Kaiba replied. "I thought you were younger than that." He shook his head and asked, "What subject will you tutor in?"  
  
The response was quick. "Whatever subject he needs tutoring in."  
  
Kaiba sighed. "Okay, and have you ever tutored anyone younger than you before? As in Mokuba's age?"  
  
At that question, Kea's eyes lit up, taking Kaiba completely off guard. "All the time," she said, a smile breaking out on her face. "My friend's little sister, my neighbor's son, a few kids from my church. I tutor thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds more than anyone, really, because I get along with them well. I love kids that age, a lot of my friends are freshman at Domino." She laughed a little and said, "I know I'm gonna sound really dumb, but I'm actually pretty psyched about tutoring Mokuba once I found out he was fourteen. At first, they were gonna have me tutor some junior, but I'd much rather work with somebody Mokuba's age." Her smile became a little nervous and she raised an eyebrow, saying, "Sorry, I'm rambling. I have a habit of talking about kids like that."  
  
Kaiba was somewhat content with the way Kea spoke of children around the age of his brother, and began to trust her just a tad. "It's quite all right," he told her. "You said you have a lot of friends Mokuba's age?"  
  
Kea nodded. "Oh yeah," she said. "Even outside of tutoring and school stuff. I play their game systems with them a lot. Card games, board games, just hanging around, anything. Mostly games, though. I love games." She giggled a little and said, "Sorry if I sound like a little kid."  
  
"It's fine," Kaiba said. She seemed like an entirely different person than she appeared to be at the door. Her smile was bright and happy, and she most definitely had the qualities of a little kid. Kaiba smirked to himself, thinking that it was ... what did those girls call it? ... 'cute'.  
  
Kea shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "Really, I don't mean to come off like that."  
  
Nodding, Kaiba stood up and waved off Kea's apology. He said, "I'll get Mokuba." Before he got a chance to go over to the staircase, Kea asked him a question.  
  
"Does Mokuba look anything like you?" she said curiously.  
  
Kaiba stopped suddenly. "Why?" he asked.  
  
Kea blushed slightly. "At the risk of sounding crazy, I recognize your eyes. Does Mokuba have long black hair?"  
  
Kaiba nodded, wordless, and just eyed Kea for a moment. She put her head down to hide her now flushed cheeks and tried to occupy her mind as Kaiba called to Mokuba.  
  
"I'm not coming down, I don't need a tutor!" Mokuba screamed from his bedroom.  
  
"Mokuba, you're failing every subject except gym, you NEED a tutor," Kaiba said calmly.  
  
"NO!" Mokuba yelled back.  
  
Kaiba sighed heavily, then said something in another language that made Mokuba slink out of his room and into the hallway. Kea watched, silently wondering if Kaiba knew she was fluent in Italian, the language he has just used when calling to his brother. She smiled to herself and watched Mokuba as he studied her from the top of the steps.  
  
'You should come down here and meet her. She's really into games, I have a feeling you'll like her, kid,' Kaiba had said in Italian.  
  
Mokuba walked down the steps, and, in Italian, said to Kaiba, "Promise to be nice to her, Seto."  
  
That comment caused Kaiba to smirk. "I'll consider it," he replied in Italian.  
  
"Good."  
  
Mokuba walked over to Kea, who stood up. She was about an inch or two taller than Mokuba, who had grown considerably over the last four years. "Wow, you're tall," Mokuba noted. "None of the other girls in my classes are as tall as you are."  
  
"She's seventeen, Mokuba," Kaiba told his brother.  
  
Mokuba nodded. "Yeah, that explains it," he said plainly.  
  
Kea smiled, trying not to laugh at how cute she thought Mokuba was. She wanted to entangle her fingers in his hair and cover his face with little kisses. He was like an oversized teddy bear waiting to be hugged. She smiled a bit at him and went on to explain the situation.  
  
"They said they were gonna send you a tutor from your own grade, but they just started this program where seniors tutor, and they made me first teaching subject," she said. " 'Cause I did tutoring before."  
  
Mokuba was ready to reply, but stopped himself and instead said, "Hey, wait a minute, I know you! Where do I know you from?" He took in her facial features, then let his eyes travel farther down her body. Kea realized this, but remained silent.  
  
Horny little fourteen-year-old, she thought, laughing inwardly and rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms over her stomach, bunching her shirt up and giving Mokuba a better view of her chest. Then, taking a deep breath, she caused her chest to rise considerably, then gently fall. She resisted the urge to laugh when Mokuba's eyes widened at what she had done.  
  
He's just having fun, what the heck, Kea thought, keeping her arms crossed for the boy in front of her.  
  
"Mokuba," Kaiba snapped, catching the way his brother's eyes were entertaining themselves.  
  
"What!" Mokuba demanded. "I didn't do anything! I just asked her where I know her from!"  
  
"It's okay," Kea said, glancing towards Kaiba. "I see you in school sometimes, Mokuba, we have the same lunch period."  
  
Mokuba nodded, then realization hit and he said. "Oh! I know who you are!" 


	2. Strategies

Hello hello hello, and here's Chapter Two. I'm glad people actually like my story, I feel all loved now. ^_^ Okay, so this chapter is still the same three characters, and it's not exactly that interesting. It sucks, I know. I promise I'll start the good stuff next chapter ... like Kea's mysterious phone calls and why she has to randomly run out of one of her tutoring sessions with Mokuba ... dun dun duuun!!! You'll see a little hinting at the end of this chapter, but it'll really heat up next time, I promise! Oh yeah,and this chapter will help you if you're having problems with your Ancient Egyptian caste system, too. ^_^ Well, thanks a lot and please R&R!! Ja ne!!  
  
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Kaiba raised an eyebrow at his brother's sudden remembrance.  
  
"You're that girl in the hallway always playing Duel Monsters!" Mokuba said to Kea. "Are you gonna enter the tournament the school's having this month?"  
  
Kea shrugged. "I dunno," she said. "Anyway, the school tells me you're not doing too good in—"  
  
"You're a duelist, Kea?" Kaiba asked with interest, cutting Kea's sentence short.  
  
Kea shrugged and said, "Yeah, I've been dueling for about a year now. So Mokuba, what subject do you need the most—"  
  
"She's good!" Mokuba told his brother, not even acknowledging the fact that Kea had begun talking. "I watched her in the hallway after school yesterday and the day before. She's really good, Seto, you should duel her sometime."  
  
Kaiba folded his arms and raised his eyebrows so that even his eyes were practically gone under his bangs. "Are you really that good?" he asked Kea.  
  
"I'm okay," Kea shrugged. "What do you think Mokuba needs the most-"  
  
"She tied with Yugi Motou!" Mokuba interrupted.  
  
That got Kaiba's attention. "You did?" he asked. When Kea nodded, Kaiba shook his head. "You didn't," he stated. "Impossible. How."  
  
Shrugging, Kea said, "I don't remember all the details. He did an attack on his last turn and I countered with a quickplay magic card that attacked his life points directly. His attack still went through, that and my magic card did the same amount of damage to both of us on the same turn and took away all of our life points. Anyway, Mokuba, what subject did you get the lowest—"  
  
"Where did you learn to duel?" Kaiba asked, interrupting Kea again.  
  
"I taught myself," Kea replied, a bit annoyed at all the interruptions. "So Mokuba, how are you doing in—"  
  
"Can you duel me sometime?" Mokuba asked excitedly.  
  
"GOODNESS GRACIOUS!" Kea said, exasperated. "Is all you guys think about Duel Monsters?! How am I supposed to tutor you if you two keep cutting me—"  
  
It surprised both Kaiba brothers when Kea cut herself off. She stood silent for a moment, lost in thought, then took an excited jump, the youth inside of her showing clearly as she laughed with brightly shining eyes, and exclaimed, "I got it! I got it, it's perfect!"  
  
"Got what?" Mokuba asked. "What's perfect?"  
  
"Do you have your dueling deck on you?" she asked Mokuba, holding out her open palm to him.  
  
"Now you're talkin' my language!" Mokuba smiled as he pulled his deck out of his pocket and handed it to her.  
  
Kea searched through the deck momentarily, then got down on her knees in front of the low coffee table, sitting on her feet. Mokuba was confused, but got down on the other side of the table so that he was facing her.  
  
"So you're failing everything?" Kea asked as she laid a few cards face-down in a pile.  
  
"Yep," Mokuba said.  
  
"How ya doin' in World History?" she asked, looking up at him briefly.  
  
"Let's just say Ancient Egypt isn't exactly my best friend."  
  
Kea smiled. "Great," she said.  
  
"Great?" Kaiba repeated, confused "How is that great? What are you doing?"  
  
Kea glanced at Kaiba for a quick second, but ignored his questions. She set Mokuba's deck on the end of the coffee table and picked up the face-down cards she had in front of her. She took the first and laid it face-up on the table in Mokuba's direction. It was Judgeman (2200/1500).  
  
"Can I see one of your Blue Eyes White Dragons (3000/2500)?" she asked Kaiba.   
  
When she saw the leery look he was giving her, she added, "I'm not gonna do anything to it, I'm right here in front of you. Look, if I damage it, I will personally hand you the knife to slit my throat with. And I'm not the one to break promises."  
  
With that, Kaiba relaxed a bit. He took out his deck and handed Kea the first card on the top. She handled it carefully before placing it onto the table next to the Judgeman.  
  
"In attack mode, when these two monsters go up against each other, who wins?" Kea asked Mokuba, quizzing him.  
  
"Blue Eyes," Mokuba shrugged.  
  
"Good," Kea said, nodding. She slid the Judgeman under the Blue Eyes, then placed a Lava Battleguard (1550/1800) next to it. "Attack mode," she said. "Who would win?"  
  
"Judgeman."  
  
Kea nodded, moving the Lava Battleguard under the Judgeman. She laid a Celtic Guardian (1400/1200) next to the Lava Battleguard. "Same question," she said plainly.  
  
"Lava Battleguard," Mokuba said. "What's the point of this? It's so obvious."  
  
"Exactly." Kea smirked before placing a Saggi the Dark Clown (600/1500) next to the Celtic Guardian. "Come on," she said.  
  
"Celtic Guardian."  
  
Kaiba watched with Kea was doing with interest. He wasn't sure of what the purpose of it was, and he figured that the one way to find out was to keep quiet and watch.  
  
Kea dug into her mini backpack and took out a deck of Duel Monsters cards. Kaiba was tempted to ask permission to look through her deck, but controlled himself and watched as she pulled a card from the bottom of the deck, then placed the bulk of the cards back in her bag. She placed a Kuriboh on the table next to Saggi.  
  
"Saggi the Dark Clown," Mokuba said, not even waiting for Kea to ask the question.  
  
"You're good," Kea said as she placed the Kuriboh under Saggi on the table. She smiled and said, "And this is where it all falls together." She placed her hands on the table, fingers spread and palm down, on either side of the row of cards. "This is your Ancient Egyptian caste system in order from most powerful to least powerful."  
  
Kaiba's eyes widened as he realized what Kea had set up for his brother. The idea was very smart, especially for having been thought of on the spur of the moment. He hid the smirk that had begun to form on his face and continued watching.  
  
"The Blue Eyes White Dragon," she began, "is the pharaoh. The most powerful; overpowers everything in the caste system. Got it?" she asked Mokuba. When he nodded, she said, "Repeat it."  
  
"The pharaoh overpowers everything in the caste system."  
  
Kea nodded approvingly. "The Judgeman represents the priests. Overpowers everyone except the pharaoh. Repeat that."  
  
Mokuba looked at Kea intently. He was genuinely interesting in what she was doing. "Priests overpower everyone but the pharaoh."  
  
"Good," Kea said. She pointed to the next card and said, "Now the Lava Battleguard is the nobles. Guess who the nobles overpower."  
  
"Everybody but the priests and pharaohs."  
  
Kea explained the rest of the caste system-middle class citizens, peasants, and slaves, and gave him other drills. She placed two cards from the caste system in front of him and asked him the name of the position on the Egyptian caste system would overrule who. Kaiba watched contentedly, satisfied with the way his brother was being taught.  
  
"Okay, so you got the rankings down good," Kea told Mokuba after about five minutes of her drills. "Having fun?"  
  
Smiling, Mokuba nodded. "Yeah," he said.  
  
"Good," Kea said, returning his smile. She reached to the end of the table and picked up Mokuba's deck, scanning through it until she found the card she needed. She put the deck back and placed the Monster Reborn card next to the Lava Battleguard. "Back to Duel Monsters," she said. "Which card is stronger? Lava Battleguard or Monster Reborn?"  
  
"Lava Battleguard," Mokuba said.  
  
Kea shook her head. "Think strategically," she advised.  
  
Mokuba thought for a second, then said, "Oh, Monster Reborn because it can revive a stronger monster."  
  
"Right," Kea said. "Okay, so let's say that you had a Swamp Battleguard destroyed earlier on in the game, so you revive him to raise the attack points of both of the Battleguards. So now the Lava Battleguard's at 2250 because of the Swamp Battleguard on the field. Now pretend the Swamp Battleguard got affected by a magic card and can't do anything for a while, okay? It's just in the way right now. Got it?"  
  
Kea gave Mokuba a second to get everything together in his head and waited for his okay to continue. "Okay, so imagine you get a field power bonus of 200 points and you equip your Battleguard with Invigoration, which raises its attack points by 500, total. What's its attack points, now?"  
  
"2550," Mokuba said.  
  
"I'm bad at math in my head, so let's assume you're right," Kea said, getting a laugh out of the younger Kaiba. She smiled at him as she placed the now strengthened Lava Battleguard with the Monster Reborn attached, next to the Judgeman. "Now if the Battleguard's attack points are 2550 and the Judgeman's are 2200, who wins?"  
  
"The Lava Battleguard," Mokuba said.  
  
Kea slid the Blue Eyes White Dragon over to the Judgeman and the Battleguard. "What now?" she asked.  
  
"The Blue Eyes overpowers the Battlegaurd," Mokuba answered.  
  
Kea nodded. "Right, good," she said. "Now say you have some weird, strangely inhuman obsession with warrior-type monsters and you have another Lava Battleguards in your deck. You randomly draw it and play it face-up in defense mode. What's your Lava Battleguard's attack points now?"  
  
"3050," Mokuba replied. Kea looked at him knowingly and he understood, saying, "It overpowers the Blue Eyes!"  
  
"Bingo," Kea said. "Now listen. CAREFULLY. It took a field power bonus, an equip card, a Swamp Battleguard, an extra Lava Battleguard, and either some real good luck or the Heart of the Cards to overpower the Blue Eyes. Very rare. VERY rare. How many people do you know who have two Lava Battleguards and a Swamp Battleguard at the top of their deck every game, and can just randomly pull the field and equip cards you need in the same turn? I mean, really. Very very rare. Remember that." She sighed. "Now. If the Monster Reborn represents the sorcerers and the sorceresses-they're nobles, like the Lava Battleguard-and all their extra attack points came from their magical abilities-like the equip cards and power bonuses-explain everything I just did using the caste system."  
  
Seto Kaiba was taken back by how quickly and smoothly his brother answered the question.  
  
"The sorcerers have the same amount of power as the other nobles, but they can overpower the priests sometimes when their magical abilities help them. They can overpower the pharaoh sometimes because of their powers, but it's really really really really rare."  
  
Kea leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, smiling widely. "If I gave you a test on this stuff tomorrow, would you pass it?"  
  
Mokuba mirrored Kea and leaned on the table the same was she was, bringing their faces only a few inches shy of touching each other. "With flying Duel Monsters," he grinned.  
  
Kea leaned back, laughing. "Great," she said, leaning back on her feet as she gathered the cards up from the table. She pushed the deck towards Mokuba and stuck her Kuriboh in her mini backpack. She stood up and walked towards Kaiba, who was now sitting down in a dark red armchair.  
  
"I believe this belongs to you," Kea said, holding out the Blue Eyes White Dragon to him by the edges.  
  
"Thank you," Kaiba said, standing up as he took the card from her. When he examined it, he saw that she had barely even gotten her fingerprints on it. His thoughts were interrupted when Mokuba's voice came from behind Kea.  
  
"What else are we doing today, Kea?" he asked.  
  
Kea turned around and shrugged. "Nothing," she said. "I gotta talk to your brother about how often I can come and stuff like that. Actually, I wasn't supposed to start actually teaching you anything until next week."  
  
Mokuba's face sagged. "Oh," he said, disappointment showing clear through his voice. "Okay."  
  
"Wait a minute," Kaiba said, a bit taken back by his brother's response. "You mean to tell me you actually WANT to learn?"  
  
"It was fun!" Mokuba said defensively. He shrugged it off and said, "Well, I'm going back upstairs if you're not staying, Kea. I left my game on and I'm probably dead by now. I'll see you tomorrow in school."  
  
Kea nodded. "Yeah," she said. "See ya." She turned to Kaiba and said, "So how often do you think—"  
  
Ring.  
  
Kea sighed heavily. "So many interruptions," she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She glanced at the number on the Caller ID before flipping it open. "Yeah," she said. She listened for a moment, glanced at Kaiba's blank expression, then said, "Come to the Kaiba estate now, I'll be outside," and flipped the phone shut.  
  
"I'm sorry, I gotta run," Kea said. "I'll talk to you later about when I should come, this is an emergency."  
  
"Well can we at least discuss—"  
  
"No, I'm sorry this is important," Kea said, taking a couple steps towards the door. "I'll talk to Mokuba at lunch tomorrow, but this is really serious, I have to go now. Bye."  
  
Kaiba watched the girl dart out of the house, closing the door tightly behind her. He stepped up to the window and watched as Kea threw her mini bookbag into the window of a black stretch limosine that had just pulled up. She went over to the driver, who handed her a small brown paper package, then she jumped into the passanger side and the limo sped off at an unnatural speed.  
  
What is that girl up to, Kaiba thought to himself. He shook it off and just figured that she came from a rich family, or knew someone who had enough money to rent a limo. He tried to dismiss the thought from his mind, but the that had been a very suspicious scene to him, and he made it a priority of his to find out what that was all about.  
  
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I know, I know, it sucked! Don't rub it in! Yeesh! Review it anyway, please, it makes me happy when people review. ^_^ ARIGATO!! (Is there a 'U' on the end of that word? I've seen in spelled both ways. Somebody who speaks Japanese please let me know!) 


	3. The Package

Thank you for reviewing!! Thank you so much!! And a special shoutout goes to Rosz of the Angel, who was nice enough to review my story TWICE, once in each chapter, and also let me know that ARIGATOU had a 'U' on the end of it. ^_^ Here's Chapter Three, I promise it's better than Chapter Two. There are no more teaching strategies, and there's more action with Kea. Enjoy! (By the way, can you guys pleeeeease review my story? Please? It makes me feel happy. *innocent smile*)  
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The next day after school, Kea showed up wearing a similar outfit as the day before, but this time with a red shirt and her schoolbag thrown over her shoulder. "Hi," she said when Kaiba greeted her at the door. "Is Mokuba ready?"  
  
"Yes," Kaiba said. "Come in." He stepped aside and let Kea walk into the house, where she stopped in the livingroom.  
  
"Sorry I had to run out yesterday," she apologized. "It was really important."  
  
"And what exactly was that?" Kaiba asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Kea mirrored him, cocking an eyebrow of her own. "Just some stuff I had to take care of," she said simply. Then, quickly skipping over the subject, she asked, "How late should I stay today?"  
  
They briefly discussed how often Kea should come and stay with Mokuba before Kaiba called for his younger brother to come down the steps. He didn't need to say it twice, because Mokuba was down the stairs practically before Kaiba even finished his sentence.  
  
"Hi Kea," Mokuba said. "Did you bring your cards like you said you would at lunch? Are we gonna duel today? Do I have to do World History again?"  
  
"Yes, no, yes," Kea said. "In that order."  
  
"Aw man," Mokuba groaned. "I hate World History! I wish we could get off of Egyptian history, it's so stupid."  
  
Kea just looked at Mokuba and decided not to comment on his insult to her favorite part of ancient history. She simply shrugged it off and said, "Come on, let's work."  
  
Kaiba left the room to his personal office in the house, leaving Kea and Mokuba to their studies. It wasn't for another two hours that Kea decided they were almost done what they needed to go over for the day.  
  
"When are you leaving?" Mokuba asked.  
  
Shrugging, Kea replied, "I don't know. I told your brother I'd stay here for at least two hours a day, three days a week." Her expression changed and she said, "Your brother's kind of, um ..."  
  
"Strange? Workaholic? Too tall?" Mokuba suggested.  
  
Kea laughed at Mokuba's descriptions of Kaiba. "Well, that, too," she said. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'different', though. I dunno, maybe it's me. So did you finish that paper?"  
  
Mokuba glanced down at his notebook in front of him. "Yeah," he said. "Are you going now?"  
  
"I guess I'll hang around for a while if it's okay with you and Kaiba," Kea said. When she saw the smile on Mokuba's face, she knew that he wasn't even going to bother asking his brother, and that Kaiba was probably too caught up in his work to care.  
  
Kea and Mokuba chatted in the livingroom over a couple glasses of milk and a box of Rainbow Vanilla Wafers until Kaiba walked into the room. He saw Kea, then looked down at his wristwatch.  
  
"And you're still here because ..."  
  
Kea's face remained expressionless as she sipped her glass of milk. "And a warm hello to you, too, Kaiba," she said.  
  
Mokuba smirked and waited for his brother's response. "Yeah, whatever," Kaiba said. "Now why are you still here? I thought we agreed that you would stay for two hours."  
  
Kea shrugged. "I had nothing better to do, and me and Mokuba wanted to hang out and talk for a while. I'll be out of here soon, don't worry about it."  
  
Kaiba mumbled something inaudible to Kea, but she didn't make an issue of it. She just watched as Kaiba walked across the livingroom and picked up a book from the coffee table. He looked around, confused, then said, "Mokuba ... I thought I told you not to touch my triology set."  
  
"I, um, didn't touch it," Mokuba said. "Not technically ... see what happened was I was sitting on the couch, and um, my foot ... hit it and um ... yeah, and then I put it, um ... yeah. That's what happened."  
  
Kea laughed at Mokuba's explanation and was enjoying the situation in front of her when her cell phone went off. She glanced at the Caller ID, and excused herself from the room when she saw who it was.  
  
Kaiba watched Kea leave the room, curious as to who the call was from. Remembering the mysterious package and limo from the day before, he walked to the doorway of the room and leaned on the wall casually, listening in to her conversation in the next room.  
  
When Kea was alone in the next room, she flipped her cell phone open and said, "I'm busy, this better be good."  
  
"It is," the voice on the other end of the phone line said. "The package you dropped off yesterday didn't get to Mr. Salvador."  
  
"What?" Kea said. "Why not? I hand delivered it to the warehouse and gave it to Vinny."  
  
"Vinny! That nut!" the Italian on the other line yelled. "You can't trust Vinny!"  
  
"Don't tell me who to trust and who not to trust!" Kea snapped. "I worked with Vinny for five year, I trust him more than anybody." She sighed and said, "Look, if Mr. Salvador didn't get the package, something must have happened between me giving Vinny the package and Vinny delivering it to Mr. Salvador. Check up on it, okay? Make sure Vinny didn't get taken care of."  
  
"Got it. You need a ride?"  
  
Thinking for a moment, Kea said, "No, I'll come on my own. You guys came and got me yesterday, and I don't want this kid's brother thinking that I'm involved in anything. He's smart, real smart. He'll figure it out if we lead on too much. Nobody can find out, act like I'm just a normal high school kid. Do I make myself clear?"  
  
"Clear as day," the man replied.  
  
"Good," Kea said before flipping the phone shut.  
  
When Kaiba heard the click of the phone on the other side of the wall, he moved from the doorway and sat down on the couch. Mokuba looked at his brother oddly. "What was all that about?" he asked. "Were you just spying on Kea?"  
  
Kaiba shook his head. "I'll explain later, Mokuba," he said.  
  
Kea walked back in the room and went over to the couch where she had all of her things spread out. "I gotta go," she said.  
  
"Who was that on the phone?" Kaiba asked her.  
  
"Huh? Oh, just a friend asking if I needed a ride from here," Kea said, thinking in her head that she hadn't technically lied to Kaiba. "I told him I was fine. Anyhow, so I'll see you guys again tomorrow. Mokuba, next week we're starting with Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Mokuba said. "See ya, Kea."  
  
"See ya," Kea said. "Bye Kaiba. I'll see myself out."  
  
Kaiba nodded at her, then waited for the sound of the front door closing before turning to his younger brother. "Something's up with that girl," he said plainly.  
  
"What?" Mokuba said. "You're crazy, Seto, she's just a tutor."  
  
"No she's not," Kaiba said. "I think she's involved in something else. Yesterday she left quickly and grabbed a brown paper package from a limo driver, then the limo sped off."  
  
"So?" Mokuba shrugged. "Lots of people in Domino rent limos."  
  
Kaiba leaned forward to his brother and said, "Mokuba, that's why I was listening in on her conversation today. She said something about delivering a package and how it didn't get where it needed to go or something like that. She told the man on the phone to make sure a guy hadn't gotten taken care of."  
  
"Taken care of?" Mokuba repeated, his eyes wide. "Maybe I watch too much TV, but when people talk about getting taken care of, they usually mean killing them."  
  
Kaiba looked deep in thought as he leaned back on the couch. "I know," he said. "Be careful around her; we're going to find out what she's up to." 


	4. At the Coffee Shop

Here is Chapter Four! Sorry it took a little longer than expected but I really appreciate your reviews!! THANK YOU!! Okay, I promised that I'd get into the interesting stuff soon, so here it is. I hope ya like it.  
  
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Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. Maybe if I wait long enough it'll drop out of the sky into my bedroom. *looks at ceiling*  
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Two days passed. Then a week. Then a month. Kaiba could find nothing wrong with Kea. She would occasionally get phone calls on her cell phone and have to run out quickly, but that was the only suspicious thing about her. And it was obvious to him that she cared about Mokuba more as a close friend than as a student.  
  
When Kaiba walked into the livingroom one day, he saw Kea standing and pacing slowly in front of the couch, where Mokuba was sitting with his hands folded. Kea was giving a phony teacher's glare before stopping in front of him. She ran through a series of questions about algebra, all of which he answered quickly and precisely.  
  
Kea narrowed her eyes at Mokuba for her last question. "How are you gonna do on the test tomorrow?"  
  
Smiling, Mokuba said, "I'm gonna get an A. Because if I don't, I know you'll make me do it again and you know how much I hate fractions."  
  
Kea giggled. "Bingo," she said, moving to sit down on the couch next to Mokuba. That was when she caught sight of Kaiba in the doorway. "Hi," she said. "Observing your brother's tutoring lesson, hm?"  
  
"You could say that," Kaiba shrugged, walking into the room. By now, Kaiba had become accustomed to talking with Kea when she wasn't teaching his brother. Mokuba often teased Kaiba, saying that he was actually making a friend.  
  
"It sounds like Mokuba's really improved." Kaiba said. "Am I right?"  
  
"That you are," Kea said. "I quiz him sometimes, after I teach him stuff. I told you that once before. And from when we first started, he went from a D average to an A. It's a low A, but it's still an A."  
  
"Hey, I'm still doing better," Mokuba said.  
  
Kea smiled at Mokuba. "Are you staying, Kaiba? Or do you have some work to do today or something?"  
  
Kaiba shrugged and walked over to the couch, sitting down on the armrest. "I'm staying for today, my secretary faxed me the papers that needed to be done and I don't have work to be completed until tomorrow."  
  
"Cool," Kea said. "Maybe you can stay and hang out with me and Mokuba for a little bit."  
  
"Maybe," Kaiba said. "By the way, I'm grateful for your tutoring Mokuba. I don't know how you did it."  
  
Kea smirked. The twisted grin looked very familiar to Mokuba, and soon he realized that it matched his brother's evil smile. "I'm the best at what I do," Kea said. "All the time."  
  
"Hmm. I'm sure you are," Kaiba said with a hint of sincerity in his voice. "You've still got another twenty minutes or so here. When do you want to leave for me to take you home?"  
  
The smirk on Kea's face dropped as she thought about how Kaiba had been giving her rides home after the sessions every day. She truthfully wouldn't have minded riding with him again, but she shook her head and seriously said, "Actually, I was gonna ask you if I could stay a little later today. Somebody's coming to pick me up because I need to go somewhere, but he can't get here for another hour and a half. If it's an inconvenience, I can always go down the street and wait in the coffee shop or something."  
  
"It's fine," Kaiba replied, shaking his head. "I'll be in my office. Come upstairs and tell me before you leave." With that, Kaiba turned and left the room.  
  
Kea looked at Mokuba in disbelief. "He wants me to tell him when I leave?" she asked. "Is that your brother? Are you sure that's not one of his machines or something?"  
  
Mokuba laughed. "Seto's not that bad," he said. "You just have to get to know him and he'll open up. He's really fun when it's just me and him."  
  
Nodding, Kea said, "Yeah, he's not that bad when he drives me home, either. It's like he's actually a real person. Scary, huh?"  
  
Mokuba smiled. "I think Seto actually made a friend. He's usually not nice to people like he's nice to you."  
  
Kea leaned back and folded her arms behind her head. "Yeah well I guess that makes me special," she said. "Either that or Kaiba likes me."  
  
At that comment, Mokuba broke out in a fit of laughter. "Aw man, I can't imagine Seto with a girlfriend! Ha! That's rich!"  
  
"Gosh, can you think of what he would say if he was trying to ask a girl out?" Kea said thoughtfully. "Hey, ten bucks says your brothers marries his computer. Y'know, the one that talks to him?"  
  
That got Mokuba laughing even harder, and the two of them broke out into a long, playful conversation about themselves and Kaiba.  
  
------------------------------LATER------------------------------  
  
Two hours passed and Kea was still at the house. She was pacing in the livingroom and continuously checking her watch.  
  
"I'm sure they'll get here," Mokuba said, briefly looking up from the Game Boy Advance.  
  
"Maybe," Kea said. She voice darkened and she said, "You don't know these people like I do, Mokuba, if they don't get here soon, I can guarantee you they'll never be able to get here."  
  
Mokuba looked at Kea, surprised at the tone of her voice. She didn't seem to notice his odd stare as she continued pacing. Mokuba shrugged it off and went back to his game. It wasn't for another half an hour when Kaiba came back down.  
  
"I got curious when I looked at my clock and saw that you still hadn't come up to tell me your ride got here," Kaiba said. "I thought you were leaving."  
  
"Yeah, I did, too," Kea said. "The idiot never showed up."  
  
Before Kaiba could offer Kea a ride again, a loud ringer sounded, echoing off the walls in the room. Quickly, Kea grabbed the cell phone from her bookbag and looked at the Called ID. A look of confusion washed over her face as she flipped the phone open and cautiously said, "Hello?"  
  
"Kea. It's Vinny."  
  
"Vin! Where are you! Where the heck are you calling from!" Kea exclaimed. She listened for a moment, then quietly, but lough enough for the Kaiba brothers to hear, said, "I'll be at the coffee shop down the street from the estate, pick me up there in twenty minutes or I swear, I'll go by myself. Tell me about it then." With that, the phone flipped shut and was placed back into the black backpack.  
  
"I'll be back tomorrow," Kea said. "See ya, Mokuba. Bye Kaiba."  
  
The Kaibas mumbled their goodbyes and watched Kea leave and hurry down the walkway. Mokuba turned his game off and looked at his brother. "Don't even say it, Seto," he said. "Kea's just a tutor. It sounded like she had some date with some guy and he's late coming or something. Normal stuff."  
  
Kaiba looked at Mokuba for a moment, then said, "Fine," and turned to walk out of the room.  
  
------------------------------AT THE COFFEE SHOP------------------------------  
  
Kea arrived at the coffee shop and ordered a drink. Almost immediately after her iced latte was placed in front of her, Vinny came rushing in the door, looking around frantically for Kea.  
  
"Vin!" Kea called, waving one hand over her head.  
  
Vinny saw her and waved, making his way over to the table. The built Italian slid into the booth, sitting across from Kea.  
  
"Now what's this job you're telling me about?" Kea asked, getting straight to the point. "Tell me about it quick, 'cause we gotta go meet Mr. Salvador about the package."  
  
Vinny looked around the restaurant cautiously before leaning forward and lowering his voice. The entire conversation from that point on was spoken in Italian by both Vinny and Kea. They knew people around them would understand if they used Japanese, the language that Kea was used to using in Domino City.  
  
"We got a kidnapping set up for you," Vinny said. "Mr. Salvador wants this guy taken and tortured by Saturday. That gives you three days to get this planned and ready. Enough time?"  
  
"Yeah," Kea replied. "I done worse jobs with one day. So what's gonna happen to him after I hold him? Who's gonna take care of him?"  
  
"You are," Vinny smirked.  
  
"Me?" Kea replied in shock. "I never killed nobody before. I do hostages, not murders! I'll do the hostage routine, but get somebody else to take care of the guy." Reluctantly, Vinny sighed and agreed.  
  
"Make plans to have him 'napped by Friday, Salvador wants him beat to a bloody pulp when he gets to him on Saturday."  
  
Nodding, Kea took a tip of her latte. "No problem," she said. "I'll talk to ya in the afternoons for the rest of the week to figure out what's going on. I gotta cancel my tutoring sessions, though. I don't want this kid and his brother to have anything to do with this."  
  
Vinny took out a box of cigarettes and a matchbox. After lighting the cigarette, he took a deep drag on it, then blew the smoke into the air. "No can do," he said plainly.  
  
"No can do? What do you mean, 'no can do'?" Kea asked. "I stop the lessons for this week, the guys gets taken care of by Saturday, I go back to sessions on Monday." She snapped her fingers a couple times and said, "Boom. That's it."  
  
Again, Vinny shook his head. "It doesn't work like that, babe," he said. "You gotta work tomorrow and Friday on this tutoring thing."  
  
Now confused, Kea asked, "Why?"  
  
After dragging on his cigarette, Vinny said, " 'Cause we're takin' out Seto Kaiba."  
  
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*GASP!* Sorry I had to do that to you guys. Whadooya think! Do you like this so far? Yeah? No? This story isn't prewritten, so if you guys got ideas, shoot! I can't guarantee I'll use them 'cause I basically got this story planned out in my head, but hey, I'm open for ideas and suggestions! R&R. Ja ne!  
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	5. Kaiba Gets Kidnapped

Here I am and here's the story! Thank you for your reviews, I'm REEEEEEALLY glad you guys like my story. Here's Chapter Five, where Kaiba gets kidnapped! Or will Kea randomly changer her mind and let her growing feelings for Kaiba get in the way? ... Don't worry, fluff fans, the romance will start soon. R&R!  
  
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Disclaimer: Aye carumba. I told ya before, I'll say it again. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!.  
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Kea choked on her latte, nearly spitting the liquid out of her mouth and onto Vinny. She caught her voice and yelled, "NANI?!"  
  
"Kea, Kea, keep it down!" Vinny said. "And remember to speak in Italian, people will think you're crazy if you're screaming about killing somebody in Japanese, they'll understand you."  
  
Taking a deep breath, Kea leaned back in the booth. "I can't take out Seto Kaiba," she said. "I ... I just can't. He's been too nice to me." She sighed and shook her head. "He's got a little brother."  
  
"Hey, little brother or no little brother, this guy's too rich for his own good," Vinny said. "Mr. Salvador's worried because one of the guys working at his business used to work for us. He could be ratting out all the stuff we got. It'll pull us under and Kaiba would get more power than Mr. Salvador and you know how that'll end. We can't have that happening. We gotta take him out quick."  
  
Kea shook her head. "I can't. I told you, I can't. I can't stand around and let you guys kill him, he's got too much to lose. His brother's been in an orphanage once already, if Kaiba gets blown out, he'll go back again, and I'm not gonna let that happen to that kid. There's no way."  
  
"Kea, come on!" Vinny said. "You been in this with me for five years! You've done worse than this! Come on, you got a responsibility, Kea! You're Italian!"  
  
Kea looked at Vinny intently. "I'm half black, Vinny, I can leave the mob whenever I want to. The only reason I'm even here to begin with is 'cause of my father. He was Italian and I promised him I'd get even with the guy who killed Momma."  
  
"Yeah and the more jobs you do, the closer you'll get to it," Vinny said. "Now come on, baby, just get Kaiba somewhere and knock him around a few times, get him good and bloody, then let Salvador take care of the rest of it. You don't even gotta be in the room when Salvador whacks him off. You don't even gotta be in the house. Or the city. Or the country, for that matter. I'll make sure ya get what ya want. Just get him by Saturday. All right?"  
  
Kea looked around uneasily, unsure of what her response should be. She stared down at the table, going through the list of pros and cons in her mind. She had done jobs like this before, right? And she wouldn't even have to see him get killed. She could make sure Mokuba was safe after everything went down, and no one would suspect a thing. She could do this ...  
  
"Okay," Kea said, sighing. "He's bigger than me, and strong, too. Come to my house Friday night and help me get him tied up. I'll have him ready for Salvador by Saturday afternoon."  
  
Smiling, Vinny reached across the table and patted Kea's cheek lightly. "That's my girl," he said.  
  
------------------------------FRIDAY'S TUTORING SESSION------------------------------  
  
Kea sat on the couch, staring off into space, as Mokuba did his algebra homework. The day before had gone as usual, with Kea coming to the Kaiba estate afterschool and tutoring Mokuba for a couple hours. Kaiba had given her a ride home and they had talked as if nothing was going on. Kaiba had no idea that he was going to be dead by the very next day.  
  
Without warning, Kea slid over on the couch and took Mokuba's notebook from him. Confused, Mokuba watched her as she removed all his books from around him and placed them on the coffee table. Then, she sat slid over a bit more and wrapped her arms around him.  
  
"You okay, Kea?" Mokuba asked as he slung his arm around her shoulder.  
  
Kea shook her head. "No," she said simply.  
  
"What's wrong?" Mokuba asked.  
  
Leaning her head on Mokuba's shoulder, Kea sighed. "I'm sorry," she said softly. Before Mokuba could ask her what she meant, she said, "You're one of my best friends, you know that, Mokuba?"  
  
"Of course," Mokuba said. "But what are you sorry about?"  
  
Kea sighed into Mokuba's shoulder and said, "Nothing. Just ... I'm kinda conflicted about something right now."  
  
"Y'know, my counselor told me that you should talk about it when you have a problem," Mokuba said. "She told me that when my grades dropped."  
  
Kea shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it," she said. "Just ... hold onto me for a little, okay? It helps."  
  
"Whatever you say," Mokuba said, getting himself comfortable next to Kea.  
  
That's when Kaiba walked in the room. When he saw that Mokuba was holding Kea, and that the bubbly tutor wasn't her normal happy self, he asked, "Mokuba, what's wrong with her?"  
  
"Your guess is as good as mine," Mokuba said. "She won't tell me."  
  
"I'm fine, Kaiba," Kea said.  
  
There was an odd moment of silence before the clock in the livingroom sounded, alerting everyone that it was six o'clock. Kea stood up and stretched her legs. "I have to go," she said. "Kaiba, can you give me a ride home?"  
  
"Sure," Kaiba said. "Are you sure you're all right?"  
  
"Yeah," Kea told him. She picked up her bookbag as Mokuba stood up from the couch.  
  
"You want me to come with?" Mokuba asked.  
  
Kea shook her head quickly. The last thing she wanted at this point was for Mokuba to be there when she and Vinny took Kaiba hostage. "I'll be fine, Mokuba, trust me. I'll call you later, maybe." Then, she stepped towards Mokuba and hugged him tightly.  
  
While hugging her back, Mokuba shot a confused look at his brother, who just shrugged. When Kea let go of Mokuba she said, "I'm sorry, Mokuba, okay? If you don't remember anything I ever said to you since the day we met, remember that I'm sorry."  
  
"Why?" Mokuba asked. "You didn't—"  
  
Kea placed a finger to Mokuba's lips. "You'll see," she said softly. She turned around and said, "I'm ready, Kaiba."  
  
The drive to Kea's house seemed shorter than usual. Instead of their normal conversation, they sat in silence until they reached Kea's house.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay?" Kaiba asked. "Do you want me to come in with you for a little bit?"  
  
Kea looked down and closed her eyes. *He offered to come in,* she thought. *He wouldn't have said that if he knew what was in store or him.* She opened her eyes and said, "Yeah, that'd help ... Thanks."  
  
"Sure," Kaiba said as he got out of the car. The two of them walked to Kea's front door, where she slowly unlocked it and walked in, dreading what would happen in just a few moments.  
  
The house was dark, all the lights were turned off. Vinny was in the kitchen waiting for Kea to walk in with Kaiba, and Kea was ready to just leave the house and save Kaiba's life. But she knew if she let Kaiba go, her life would be taken instead. She never should have agreed to this.  
  
"You want something to drink?" Kea asked Kaiba as she dropped her back to the floor. She closed the door behind him and said, "I have coffee, if you want. I'm out of cream, but I know you like it black anyway."  
  
Kaiba nodded. "That sounds fine," he said, smirking slightly Kea's memory of how he drank his coffee.  
  
"Okay, follow me," Kea said. She pushed herself to walk through the livingroom, Kaiba following behind casually. She slowly walked into the kitchen, where she turned the light on. When Kaiba walked into the kitchen behind her, Vinny made his way out of the shadows, holding a wooden baseball bat, ready to get Kaiba with a hit he wouldn't forget.  
  
Kea turned around to face Kaiba and she saw Vinny coming from the shadow. She bit her bottom lip and mumbled, "I'm sorry, Kaiba."  
  
"Kea, why are y—"  
  
Before Kaiba could finish his sentence, Vinny whipped the bat across the back of his head and Kaiba fell to the floor, unconscious.  
  
"Gosh, Vinny, could you have hit him any harder!" Kea exclaimed angrily when she saw Kaiba on the floor. "You could've seriously hurt him!"  
  
"What'd you want me to do, tap him on the shoulder and ask permission to hit him with a bat?! It's not like it matters, anyway, Kea, he'll be dead tomorrow anyway!"  
  
"Yeah well he's alive now," Kea said, kneeling next to Kaiba. "Now help me get him up, we gotta get him tied somewhere before he comes back around."  
  
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There ya go! Reminder: This story is only prewritten to a point—next chapter. I'm open for suggestions! Now please make me a happy camper and click on the little purple button that says "Submit Review" ... or whatever it says ... or it may not be purple if you're color blind ... hmm ... I'm requesting 5 reviews before I update this time! I got 4 for the last chapter. Please review! 


	6. Killing Mr Kaiba

Hey people! I was so surprised when I signed online and saw that my mail box was stacked with review alerts! It made me really happy and now I'm gonna work my butt off to update for you guys. So here ya go.  
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Thanks to Dan who gave me an idea for this chapter. Dan also said that Kea should have a change of heart, but I'm pretty sure most of you guys saw that part coming. Don't forget, this IS a romance.  
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Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. But I'm waiting for Kazuki Takahashi to give it to me for my birthday ... yep. Stiiiiiiiill waiting. *taps foot*  
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Kea sat in the livingroom, watching Kaiba carefully. He was still out cold, tied securely to a wooden chair with armrests. The longer she looked at him, the more guilty she became. She wanted to let him go, but she knew Vinny wouldn't have it. Although she had worked with Vinny for over five years, he could be very dangerous, and Kea didn't want to take the chance of getting more people killed than necessary by trying to save Kaiba.  
  
Growing tireder and tireder, Kea closed her eyes to rest for a while, waiting for Kaiba to come around.  
  
Kaiba's head lolled from side to side and he groaned in discomfort. It didn't take him long to realize that he was tied to a chair, and there was duct tape over his mouth. He looked around, trying to recognize his surroundings, when he saw Kea sitting in a chair across from him with her head in her hands.  
  
The groaning from across the room startled Kea. She looked up at Kaiba, and upon seeing that he had woken up, she rushed over to him and sat down on her knees in front of him. Slowly, she began to peel the duct tape off of his mouth.  
  
Kaiba winced in pain at the duct tape being removed from his face. When it was completely off, he groaned and moved his mouth around a few times to get the feeling back.  
  
"Here," Kea said, holding a glass of water to Kaiba's lips. He drank a little of it before Kea took the cup back. "Are you okay?" she asked him.  
  
"I have a splitting headache," he said. "What happened?"  
  
Kea was hesitatant to tell Kaiba what was really going on. "Um, well, after you came to my house there was this, um ..."  
  
Before Kea could get another word out, Vinny walked in from the next room. "Kea, what are you doing, put the tape back on him!" he ordered.  
  
"I was just checking on him, Vinny," Kea said softly.  
  
"Yeah well it's not gonna matter tomorrow," Vinny said. "Stick the tape back on him or I'll do it myself."  
  
Kea glared at Vinny. "His head hurts, I'm gonna get him some asprin," she said. She touched Kaiba's face lightly and said, "I'll be right back." She stood up and walked out of the livingroom and into the kitchen.  
  
Vinny walked in front of Kaiba and studied his face. "Who are you?" Kaiba asked. "And what happened?"  
  
"I'm Vinny Nocelli," Vinny said. "That girl who was just in here would be Kea Shatsana."  
  
"I know who she is," Kaiba said.  
  
"Or so you think," Vinny said. "I bet you had no idea that she works for the Italian mafia, huh?" He stopped and looked at the disbelief on Kaiba's face. "Why do you think you're tied up here? She does assault and hostage jobs. She's gotta have you bloody and damn near dead by tomorrow when the mob boss comes in here to take care of ya."  
  
"What?" Kaiba said. "That's impossible."  
  
Vinny lowered his face to Kaiba's and threateningly said, "There's gonna be a guy coming around tomorrow to blow your brains out. Don't test me, Kaiba, or I might just have to kill you myself."  
  
Kaiba scoffed. "You won't touch me, you brainless monkey."  
  
Upon being insulted, Vinny whipped out a switchblade from his back pocket and flipped it open. "Listen to me, moneybags," he said in a deathly tone as he held the knife tight against Kaiba's throat. "One wrong move and I won't hesitate to slide this blade all the way across your throat nice and slow so you'll feel it ripping through your flesh."  
  
Vinny pressed the knife against Kaiba's neck so hard he had to tilt his head all the way back to keep it from cutting him. "Do you understand me, rich boy?"  
  
"Yeah," Kaiba said, barely in a whisper.  
  
"Vin! What are you doin', get the blade away from him!" Kea yelled from the kitchen doorway. "Are you outta your mind, you'll freakin' slit his throat!"  
  
"That's what I'm intending to do," Vinny said eerily, pressing the knife tighter on Kaiba's neck.  
  
Kea dropped the pill bottle she had gotten and went over to Vinny, pulling his arm away from Kaiba. "Stop it!" she ordered.  
  
Vinny whipped his other arm around and hit Kea across the face. She wasn't expecting it and fell hard onto the floor. She stayed down with her face covered as Vinny cursed at her in Italian. Before he left the room, he spoke harshly to Kea in Italian.  
  
"Don't you dare let your feelings for this asshole get in your way of finishing this job or I swear I'll kill the both of you with my bare hands."  
  
Kea kept her face to the floor, hiding her tears and surpressing her sobs as Vinny walked out of the room. When she heard the door to the next room slam shut, she sat up and let her sobs out.  
  
"You didn't tell me you spoke Italian," Kaiba said, recalling the first day he met Kea when he spoke to Mokuba in Italian while she was in the room.  
  
"I didn't want you to know," Kea said between sobs. "Kaiba, I'm so sorry," she said, wiping her face. She stood up and paced, slapping her pockets nervously. She lowered her voice and said, "I can't go through with this. I can't. I just ... I can't do it. I gotta get you outta here, Kaiba."  
  
"How?" Kaiba asked, keeping his voice as low as hers. He was no longer worried about Kea lying to him; his mind was set on escaping. He would deal with her layer. "Vinny's right next door, he'll hear us if we try to leave."  
  
Kea stopped pacing and took a deep breath. "Tomorrow morning. The man that's supposed to come here to take care of you, Mr. Salvador. He's flying in from Italy at eight a.m., and Vinny's going to the airport to pick him up. We can get you out of here while Vinny's out of the house. Okay? Can you wait that long?"  
  
Kaiba closed his eyes. "Yes," he said.  
  
------------------------------EARLY THE NEXT MORNING------------------------------  
  
Kea woke up at six o'clock to leave herself enough time to get Kaiba out of the house. She rolled out of bed and changed her clothes, quietly walking down the steps as to not wake Kaiba yet. But what she saw made her stop dead in her tracks.  
  
"Good morning, Miss Shatsana," Mr. Salvador said, standing erect with his hands in his pockets.  
  
"M-Mr. Salvador," Kea stuttered. "I thought your flight wasn't supposed to arrive until eight o'clock."  
  
"Well, Vinny here called me last night and said that he had a hunch something might happen if I came so late, so I changed my flight and arrived here about an hour ago," Mr. Salvador said.  
  
Kea shot Vinny a death glare, only receiving an evil smirk in return. "Well, um, what do you plan on doing now that you're here?" Kea asked a little uneasily. "I mean ... since there was a change in plans and all."  
  
"Miss Shatsana, I'm going to assign you a job," Mr. Salvador said.  
  
*Do I even want to ask?* Kea thought. As she walked down the steps she looked at Kaiba, who had the duct tape over his mouth again. He gave her an expressionless look before she looked back at the mob boss. "What is it, Mr. Salvador?" she asked.  
  
Mr. Salvador snapped his fingers and the man next to him, who Kea recognized as a guy called Max, handed him an automatic gun. Mr. Salvador took the gun and turned it around in his hands. "Do you know what this is, Kea?" he asked.  
  
"It's a 22 automatic," Kea said. "That's small for you, Mr. Salvador, I use 22s, I thought you used a 44."  
  
"Precisely," Mr. Salvador said. "But I'm not going to use this gun." He handed it to Kea and said, "You're going to use it to kill Mr. Kaiba."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Kea said. "There's no way I'm killing anybody. I do hostages, okay? I never killed nobody before and I don't plan on starting now. This is not my territory, I did my end of the job."  
  
Shrugging, Mr. Salvador calmly said, "Fine." He pulled out another automatic handgun, this time a 44, and held it in Kea's face. She jumped back in fear. "Either you take his life, or I'll take yours," Mr. Salvador said.  
  
Kea's breath caught in her throat when she heard Mr. Salvador's words. After a moment of silence, she put her hand out and hoarsely said, "Give me the gun."  
  
Mr. Salvador handed Kea the 22, smiling to himself as he watched Kea turn and face Kaiba, who was still tied to the chair. She fingered the silencer on the end of it for a moment before sliding the clip out of the gun and checking to see how many bullets were left in it.  
  
"One shot," she said to herself as she put the clip back into the gun. "Guess I gotta do this quick." She laughed off her own comment, nervously. She held the gun out towards Kaiba, pointing it squarely between his eyes but keeping herself at arm's length from him.  
  
It was painfully obvious that Kea had never killed anyone before; if she hadn't said it, Kaiba would have figured it out by himself. But it didn't help him any. His breathing rate intensified and he was sweating nervously, literally scared for his life.  
  
Kea held the gun at him, shaking so much that she had to use both hands to keep the weapon in any kind of control. Her finger resting on the trigger, Kea kept her eyes locked on Kaiba, who was staring right back at her. Not blinking, shaking with fear, but eyes that were empty of emotion.  
  
Kea didn't break her eye contact with Kaiba, and ignored the tears welling up in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she repositioned her fingers and firmly pulled back the gun's trigger, aiming for Kaiba's head.  
  
BANG!  
  
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CLIFFHANGER!! Did Kaiba die?? Where'd the shot go?? Who did Kea shoot?? What happened?? Well, there's only one way to find out. *points to review button* I got 9 reviews for the last chapter after only requesting 5, so this time I won't update until I get 7 reviews. Ja ne! 


	7. Five Minutes

Sorry about the update that took ten years!! This story isn't prewritten anymore, so I gotta do some actual work now. Here's the continuation of that mean old cliffhanger I left you guys with last time. Enjoy!  
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Disclaimer: Nobody's gonna read this anyway because they're all gonna be reading ahead to find out if Kaiba gets killed. So I'm not even gonna bother saying it. (But please don't sue me anyway!!)  
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The gun went off inches away from his face. For a second, he thought it hit him and the flash of light from the gun that lit his darkness was the doorway to Heaven. Then when he opened my eyes, he saw Kea with the gun still in his face. She was pulling at the trigger continuously, the empty barrel making a clicking sound that echoed between Kaiba's ears.  
  
Kaiba looked at Kea with wide eyes. Her hands were shaking violently and her eyes were filled with tears. She let out a sob and dropped the gun, lowering herself to the floor and crying hysterically.  
  
"I can't do it, I can't kill him!" Kea wailed. "Please don't kill him, Mr. Salvador, please!"  
  
Mr. Salvador walked calmly over to Kea and knelt down in front of her. He lifted her chin up with his hand forcefully and looked into her eyes, which were overflowing with tears.  
  
"I knew you didn't have the guts to do it," he said.  
  
"Please don't kill him, Mr. Salvador, please," Kea continued begging. "Please, he's got so much, he's got a little brother. If he dies, his brother's gonna be alone and he'll have to go to an orphanage again, I don't want that to happen. Please, Mr. Salvador."  
  
Mr. Salvador studied Kea's honest features, then said, "Tell ya what, sweetie. I'll give you and Mr. Kaiba over here five minutes to get out of this house. If you can stay alive, you can stay alive. But if you can't ..." He lowered his voice and threateningly said, "You're both gonna die."  
  
Kea stared hard at Mr. Salvador and said, "Five minutes?"  
  
Mr. Salvador stood up. "Four minutes and fifty seconds," he said, looking down at his watch.  
  
Without hesitation, Kea stood up and began untying the knots on Kaiba's arms. When she got them free, he bent over and untied the ropes on one leg while Kea took care of the other. They didn't both with the duct tape on his mouth because they knew it would waste time.  
  
"Four minutes and two seconds," Mr. Salvador said.  
  
"Come on!" Kea ordered as she and Kaiba ran for the front door. They made it out easily, not worrying about Mr. Salvador coming after them at the time. Kaiba tore the tape off of his mouth and demanded,  
  
"How are we getting out of here!"  
  
Kea didn't answer him, just ran to her black minivan and pulled her carkeys out of her pocket, unlocking it. She hopped into the driver's side and Kaiba into the passenger's side, as Kea turned the key in the ignition.  
  
The engine revved up and Kea pulled quickly out of the driveway, speeding down the street and nearly bumping into telephone poles along the way.  
  
"I'm sorry," Kea said. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have taken the gun. I'm sorry."  
  
"Stop it," Kaiba ordered. "Just get us out of here. We'll talk about this later."  
  
Kea obediently shut her mouth and they drove in silence for another hour. Kea was constantly checking her rear view mirror to see if Mr. Salvador or Max or Vinny was following them, but there were no cars on the highway like the ones owned by the mobsters. Kea sighed in relief.  
  
"Look, we've gotta lay low and stay out of Domino City for a while," Kea said to Kaiba after stopping the car in a small town. "If we go back, Vinny's sure to find us and kill us both."  
  
"What about Mokuba?" Kaiba asked.  
  
Kea took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "You'll have to leave him alone for a while. If you call home and talk to him, Vinny could find us. He might have tapped your phone lines or something. Vinny hasn't trusted me since I told him I didn't want to kill you."  
  
Kaiab closed his eyes in thought. "Then what are we going to do? You seem to know about the mafia."  
  
"I know these guys like I know the back of my hand, and there's no way we can go back there before a week's time is up without risking death."  
  
Kaiba just sat back in the passenger's seat and sighed. How long was he going to have to hide from his own life? From his little brother? He sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair. "What are we gonna do?" he asked.  
  
Kea looked around the town for a second, taking in how small it was and studying all the people walking by. Then, she sighed and said, "Let's just go and get a motel room; I'll tell you once we're completely alone. We can't risk anything anymore. Okay?"  
  
Uneasily, Kaiba said, "Okay."  
  
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I know, it sucked. I went temporarily braindead. SOMEBODY GIVE ME IDEAS! I don't want this to turn into anything cliched, like 'Kaiba and girl run away and hide in a motel where they fall in love' or, 'Kaiba and girl change their identities and go on the run' or something like that. PLEASE give me ideas and I'll definitely give you your props for it. Arigatou! Ja ne! 


	8. Who Do You Hate Most?

Okay, here's the next chapter of MOKUBA'S TUTOR. I got some ideas in reviews, so I decided to take some of them and put my own little ghettofied twist on them. Hope ya like it—here ya go!  
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Disclaimer: *shakes head* i yi yi. I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! people. I thought I might have maybe gotten it yesterday, cuz yesterday was my birthday, but Kazuki Takahashi decided to keep it. *sniff sniff*  
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Kea and Kaiba had been in their motel room for hours and hours on end, doing nothing but sitting and staring at things in the room. Occasionally, Kaiba would yell at Kea for nearly getting him killed, and nearly killing him herself, and she would yell back about how he was alive and that's all that should have mattered to him.  
  
Neither one of them trusted the other alone if they fell asleep, so they were both awake. It was by now one o'clock in the morning, but neither of them were making the effort to try and sleep. Finally, Kea sighed deeply and said, "I'm getting a soda. Don't do anything stupid."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaiba shot.  
  
"Nothing! Just wait until I get back! Goodness gracious," Kea said, jumping off of her bed and walking out of the room. Once she was gona, Kaiba threw himself backwards on his bed. Thoughts raced through his mind and he closed his eyes to think. Eventually, one word came to his mind that he had to voice.  
  
"Mokuba."  
  
He thought about calling his younger brother, but he figured that wouldn't be a good idea. They could have tapped the phones in his house. But what if they got to Mokuba? Kaiba was debating in his head whether to call him or not when Kea returned.  
  
"You didn't do anything stupid, did you?" Kea asked.  
  
"No," Kaiba said.  
  
There was an awkward silence between them before there was a loud ringing sound. Kea looked up at Kaiba, who was taking his cell phone out of his pocket. When he saw the number on the Caller ID, he growled.  
  
"Whoa, what's that all about?" Kea asked curiously.  
  
"Yugi Motou," Kaiba said. "I can't believe he's calling me."  
  
Kea thought for a second, then said, "Answer it."  
  
"Answer it?" Kaiba repeated as the phone continued ringing. "Are you crazy? You want me to ANSWER it?"  
  
Kea rolled her eyes. "Isn't that what I just said?" When she got nothing but a blank stare from Kaiba, she snatched his cell phone and flipped it open. "Hello?" she said. The voice on the other line was confused.  
  
"Um ... hello ... I think I called the wrong number ..."  
  
"Not if you think you're calling Seto Kaiba's cell phone," Kea said.  
  
"Oh," the voice said. "Well then ... um ... okay."  
  
Again, Kea rolled her eyes. "Here Kaiba," she said, handing the brunette his phone.  
  
"What," Kaiba said sharply into the phone.  
  
"I'm sorry Kaiba, am I interrupting you and your girlfriend?" Yugi asked politely.  
  
"She's NOT my girlfriend," Kaiba said, gritting his teeth. "She nearly got me killed today."  
  
Yugi, on the other end of the phone, blinked in confused. "Um, what?"  
  
"Nevermind," Kaiba said.  
  
Unexpectedly, Kea got up from her bed and moved to sit next to Kaiba. "Do you trust this Yugi kid?" she asked.  
  
Kaiba looked at the girl who was now sitting closer to him than he had expected, and nodded, "Yes," he said. "He's one of the only sensible people I know in Domino City."  
  
"Good," Kea said. "We're gonna need his help. We can't be stuck in this hotel room forever." She paused to think for a second, then said, "In a situation like this, if somebody were to help us, would anybody suspect Yugi?"  
  
"Hold on Yugi," Kaiba said into the phone before putting it aside to talk to Kea. "Yes. Although I don't like him that much, I can stand him better than his other friends."  
  
"Well," Kea said, "who's the absolute positive LAST person that ANYONE would suspect would be helping you? Think of the person you hate most." Kea watched Kaiba's face twist into a grimace as he thought of the person he hatest most in the world. She intended to call that person and have them help so that no one would think they'd help, since Kaiba hated them so much.  
  
When Kaiba still said nothing, Kea nudged him a little and said, "Well? Who is it?"  
  
Kaiba shook his head and rubbed one of his temples; just thinking about this person made his blood boil. He closed his eyes and slowly exhaled, speaking in an evil voice while saying,  
  
"Joey Wheeler."  
  
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So sorry it took so long! And I'm sorry it's short! But I'm on Spring Break next week, so I'll be updating a lot! I updated all of my stories today! ^_^ Please let me know what you think of this story, and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Arigatou! 


	9. Joey Wheeler

*singing* They call me Slim Shady! I'm back, I'm back! That's why they call me Slim Shady. I'm back, I'm back! All my Eminem fans out there know where that came from! Ok sorry. *ahem* Here's the next chapter, where Joey, Tristan, and Yugi are introduced! Sorry, Tea and Serenity won't be in this fic. I don't like Tea too much, anyway, and Serenity gets on my nerves sometimes. But anyway, here's the chapter—enjoy!. Hopefully ... ^^;  
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Disclaimer: What would happen if I just decided not to say it this chapter? ... Hmmm ... No, I did that once before and I got skurred, so I'm gonna say it this time. I DON'T OWN YU-GI-OH!. Thank you. ^_^  
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"Come on, Joey, please, we really need your help!" Kea pleaded, talking into Kaiba's cell phone to the annoying New Yorker on the other end.  
  
"Gimmie one good reason why I should help creepy Kaiba!" Joey said angrily.  
  
Kea said, "Because! Even though Kaiba might not have been the nicest person to you, you HAVE to help! You just have to!"  
  
"Why!" Joey demanded.  
  
"Because! Nobody'll suspect you and it'll be easier for us to escape," Kea said.  
  
"No!" Joey yelled. "There's no way I'm gonna help him! He can die fer all I care! I hope ya kill 'im yerself!"  
  
Kaiba smirked when he saw Kea growling at the boy on the other end of the phone. She shot a glare at him before turning back to the phone and saying, "Listen here, Joey Wheeler, you're dealing with a five-year member of the Italian Mafia. I've got people in Domino City who want to kill me and Kaiba both. Sorry and all, but now that I called you about this, they could track you and try to kill you, too. And you're closer to them than me are. They have no idea where we are right now; they'll come after you first. Do you really want to risk your life on this?"  
  
There was a period of silence on the other end of the line. Kea sat quietly, listening to Joey's breathing to assure her that he was still there. Finally, there came an annoyed, heavy sigh.  
  
"Alright," Joey said. "Whaddoya want me tah do?"  
  
Kea smiled and showed the thumbs up sign to Kaiba, who was sitting on the bed across from hers. She folded her legs underneath her and said, "Okay, Joey. You have a friend named Yugi that Kaiba told me about."  
  
"What about Yugi?" Joey asked quickly.  
  
Kea shrugged. "Kaiba told him what happened today, round and about. Now that we've got you behind us, I figure we'll ask Yugi's help, too."  
  
"What! Dere's no way I'm gettin' my friends into dis!" Joey said. "I didn't agree tah dat!"  
  
"Joey, come ON!" Kea nearly screamed. "The more of us there are, the better chance we have getting out alive. Do you have any other friends that could help us?"  
  
"No, no, please no," Kaiba groaned when he heard Kea ask the question. "Not Tristan, PLEASE not Tristan."  
  
"Yeah," Joey said into the phone. "His name's Tristan."  
  
Kea raised an eyebrow at Kaiba. "Tristan," she said. She laughed when Kaiba rolled his eyes and dropped his head into his hands. "Good, Joey," she said. "Now here's the deal. Lay low, say nothing to anybody after I hang up with you. I'll call you back in twenty minutes to let you know what's going on."  
  
"Alright, alright," Joey said. "Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Kea flipped the cell phone shut and tossed it to the other bed next to where Kaiba was sitting. He looked at it briefly, then set his gaze on Kea. "Why did you have to bring them into it?"  
  
"Because they're gonna help us," Kea replied, shrugging simply. She sat and studied Kaiba's silent features for a moment, then softened her voice and said, "Hey, we'll check up on Mokuba soon, okay? I promise we'll get to him as soon as we can."  
  
When Kaiba looked up and saw the sincerity on Kea's face, he mumbled a quick 'thanks', then went to turn his cell phone off.  
  
"Okay," Kea said, losing the sweetness in her voice almost instantly. "We need to discuss a plan. What are we gonna do."  
  
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Okay, I meant to get into more interesting stuff for this chapter, but I don't know what to do! PLEASE GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS!!! I need suggestions! I can't update until I know what can happen! PLEASE GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS!!! I'll put you in the story if I decide to use your suggestion! Please! *begging* Review, please!  
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Y'know ... no one seemed to realize that I said it was one o'clock in the morning last chapter. I realized this when I was rereading it a few minutes ago. AFTER I posted it, of course ... That would mean that Yugi called Kaiba's cell phone at one o'clock in the morning ... yeah, let's just pretend that it was later that day. Because they did leave Kea's house at about eight in the morning, so let's pretend that this happened at about 4 or 5pm. ^_^ ;; Thank you!! 


	10. Please don't kill us!

I'M BACK!! It took me so long, but I'm finally back! Sorry, I had writer's block, then I was lazy, then my computer broke! But now I have a new computer I can work with, I'm not lazy anymore, and I got a very very good suggestion from Yume E. Yui!!! Don't go and read her review, though, because it'll ruin it. Besides, I put my own lil taste of flava in it anyway, so you really don't know what's gonna happen even if you did read her review. Still, though, don't read it. LoL, it'll be better this way, trust me. PROPS UP TO YUME E. YUI!!! By the way, she's got a reeeally good Kaiba fic up called 'The Merger', you should read it, it's great.  
  
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Disclaimer: I've been gone so long and people want to know what happened so bad, I don't think they'll bother reading this or what I wrote above. *shrugs* Well, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! anywayz.  
  
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It had been just an hour since Kea had talked to Joey, and minds were busy at work all across the city. Kea and Kaiba sat in their motel room, laying out a plan for them to escape safely, while Joey and his friends were planning in Yugi's car on the way to the motel.  
  
"Dude, what are we doing again?" Tristan asked, rubbing his tired eyes and letting out a yawn.  
  
"We're saving Kaiba's ass," Joey said simply.  
  
"Joey, stop cursing!" Tea cried.  
  
"Sor-ry," Joey said, squirming uncomfortably. "Damn."  
  
Yugi ignored the feud in the backseat and asked, "So do you know exactly what we're supposed to do, Joey? Did Kea say anything about it?"  
  
Joey shrugged and ran his hand over his hair. "Nah, I figure she'll tell us when we get there."  
  
Assuming that Joey knew was he was doing, Yugi shrugged and continued driving. Occasionally, he had to readjust the Tokyo phone book that he was sitting on so he could see over the steering wheel, but other than that, he was silent for the rest of the ride.  
  
------------------------------ THE MOTEL ROOM ------------------------------  
  
Kaiba sat at the dresser, quickly scribbling things down that he and Kea talked about as Kea paced behind him and ran over their strategy in her head.  
  
"We have everything covered, am I right?" she asked Kaiba.  
  
Kaiba silently read over their list and said, "Yes. Even how to cover for Joey, which I still think we shouldn't do."  
  
Rolling her eyes, Kea said, "Oh come on, Kaiba, he's saving your butt here, the least you could do is not let him get killed."  
  
"Hmph," Kaiba said, dropping the pen in his hand and folding his arms. "I see our views aren't quite the same in this field."  
  
Kea giggled at Kaiba's response. "Whatever you say," she said.  
  
Just then, there was a knock on the motel room door. Kaiba looked at Kea questioningly, but she simply shook her head. "There's no way they could find us, we lost them on the highway miles before we even got here," she said, then, raising her voice a bit, she called, "Who is it?"  
  
"Front desk," said a high-pitched male voice.  
  
"See," Kea said to Kaiba. "I highly doubt that nice front desk guy is gonna shoot us."  
  
"Just watch yourself," Kaiba said.  
  
"Awww, a little worried, are we?" Kea teased as she made her way over to the front door. She undid the two locks and opened the door.  
  
"Mistake number one," came Vinny's voice as he grabbed Kea's neck roughly and pushed her back into the room, a gun pointed directly between her eyes. Max, another mafia member, followed Vinny inside and shut the door behind him, holding out a gun pointed towards Kaiba.  
  
"Dammit Kea, you should have listened to me!" Kaiba said angrily as Vinny threw Kea onto one of the motel room beds. Upon contact, she scrambled to the headboard, never taking her eyes off of Vinny, who never ceased to move the gun which was aimed at her.  
  
"You're not gonna kill me Vinny," Kea said softly. "I mean come on, Vin, we've been friends for years, you can't whack off your best friend."  
  
Vinny took a deep breath and glanced over at Max, who had Kaiba backed up against the wall, still at gunpoint. Max never took his eyes off of Kaiba, in fear that if he did, Kaiba would jump at the opportunity to take the gun.  
  
Vinny looked back at Kea and shakily said, "Salvador wants you dead. We went after you when you left with Kaiba. I threw them off when you turned on the highway, but they found you anyway. They had Kaiba's cell phone traced."  
  
"Crap, I knew we should've used the room phone," Kea said softly. Then, looking up, she said, "Vinny, come on, I know we had our times, but we been friends otherwise, right? You can't kill us ..."  
  
"I don't wanna kill you, I wanna kill HIM!" Vinny said angrily, jerking his gun towards Kaiba's direction. Kea jumped slightly at Vinny's sudden change in tone and began worrying.  
  
"Come on, Vin, you can't kill him, think about it," Kea said, trying to talk her way out of the situation. "He's got a little brother ... you've got a brother, can you imagine what-"  
  
"Don't you dare bring Ricky into this!" Vinny snapped suddenly. Then, in an attempt to calm himself down, he said, "Ricky's got nothing to do with me anymore." Then, as if the statement angered him, he cringed and gripped the gun tighter. "If I don't get this done Salvador's gonna kill me," Vinny said.  
  
"So run!" Kea insisted. "Just like me and Kaiba ran, you can run, too. You can go back to Italy for crying out loud!"  
  
Vinny looked down, seemingly pondering over what Kea had said. When he lowered the gun, Kea sighed.  
  
"Thank you, Vinny," she exhaled softly.  
  
"Don't thank me," Vinny said, nearly in a whisper. He turned to Max and, in Italian, said, "Take care of both of them for me."  
  
"WHAT?! Vinny, you're crazy!" Kea went off screaming in Italian. Kaiba stayed quiet, taking in the conversation and silently planning a way out of it. Currently, he didn't see one.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kea," Vinny said as he began to walk out of the room.  
  
Kea looked over to Kaiba, who was expressionless. She had never been in a situation like this before and she had no idea what to do about it. She only hoped that she and Kaiba could make it out alive.  
  
------------------------------ YUGI'S CAR------------------------------  
  
"Man, Yug, do ya know where yer goin'?" Joey asked as Yugi made another right turn.  
  
"I'm going where you told me to go, Joey," Yugi said calmly, "but I don't see a motel anywhere. Are you sure you gave me the right directions?"  
  
Joey scratched the back of his neck, thinking about Yugi's question. "I'm pretty sure I did," he said thoughtfully.  
  
"Aw man, Joey!" Tea whined, turning around from the front seat to look at the blond. "Come on, I'm missing my favorite primetime soaps for this!"  
  
"Shut up about your primetime soaps!" Tristan wailed. "Come on, man, we gotta be super heros and save Kaiba from the mafia!" Tea sighed heavily and looked out the window, set on ignoring the two in the backseat for the rest of the ride.  
  
She had just begun to drift into thought when she saw a small, western- style motel on her side of the road. "Hey Yugi, is that their motel?" she asked.  
  
Yugi slowed his car down before he missed it and looked at the motel. "I think it might be," he said. "It can't hurt to check, right?" He began to park in front of the motel, briefly looking back at Joey and asking, "Do you know what room they're in, Joey?"  
  
Joey thought for a moment, then said, "Eighty-six."  
  
"Good," Yugi said. "Come on, let's go find out what their plan is.  
  
------------------------------ THE MOTEL ROOM ------------------------------  
  
"Please don't do this, Max, please," Kea was begging as Max smirked at Kaiba. "Come on, you can still get out of here and keep all three of us alive!"  
  
"No can do," Max said in a thick Italian accent. "Sorry, babe." Then with a grin on his face, he said, "Moneybags is going first."  
  
"No!" Kea screamed just as Max went to fire the gun. She jumped off the edge of the bed and latched onto Max's arm, causing the bullet to miss Kaiba's head and instead go into his shoulder.  
  
"Ah! Dammit!" Kaiba cried as he fell to the floor, holding his shoulder.  
  
Kea continued to struggle for the gun that Max had in his hand, purposely avoiding the silencer at the end as to not get any gunpowder on her fingers.  
  
"Give ... up ... Kea ..." Max said between struggling breaths.  
  
"... Never ...!" Kea yelled. She was determined to get the gun from Max and wouldn't stop until she did so. She only made one mistake. Worrying about Kaiba.  
  
Kea heard Kaiba's painful groans from under the window, where he was holding his shoulder in extreme pain and fighting the urge to scream. His groans worried her and she briefly checked over to make sure he was okay. That one mistake would cost her.  
  
BANG!  
  
As soon as Kea turned her head to look at Kaiba, Max gained control of the gun and fired it, piercing her stomach from close range.  
  
"Gaaah!" Kea screamed when the bullet hit her. She fell over on contact, near where Kaiba was, and held her stomach, fighting to keep herself awake. If she passed out, she didn't know how much blood she could lose, and death could be the end result.  
  
Breathing heavily and stumbling on the floor, Kea turned around to look Max in the eye. He didn't seem to be phased by any of this; he only wanted to get his job done. He held the gun up towards Kea's head and with en evil glare in his eye, prepared to fire.  
  
"HEY!" a heavily accented voice yelled from the other side of the motel room door as numerous fists began banging loudly. "What's goin' on in dere!"  
  
"Is everyone okay?" a younger-sounding voice called. "It doesn't sound good in there, is something wrong? Open the door!"  
  
Temporarily, Max panicked. It would be the perfect time to get the gun from him and take control of the situation if either Kaiba or Kea could move or think correctly through their bullet wounds. Instead of taking action, Kea made an attempt to crawl to Kaiba, grabbing his hand when she neared him.  
  
"I'm so sorry," she said hoarsely.  
  
Kaiba did nothing but look into her eyes, his own bloodshot from the pain in his shoulder. He didn't know how to respond, so he just gently squeezed Kea's hand. Although he may have been angry at her for what she put him through, he couldn't let her live her last moments on earth believing that she was hated. Even he wasn't that cold hearted.  
  
"Open the door, you guys!" a female voice rang.  
  
"That's it, back up guys, we're busting this thing in!" another male voice said. Then, two people began ramming the door on the count of three, time after time, intending to break the door down.  
  
Max cursed to himself in Italian, then took one last look at Kea and Kaiba. Knowing that he still had to take care of business, he aimed the gun to take one last shot at Kea Shatsana.  
  
BANG!  
  
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Wow, that's not the first chapter I ended with 'BANG!'. This time it may be a little less predictable, though. Who got shot? Where did they get shot? Did they die? Did Joey and Tristan ever bust the door down? What's gonna happen to Max? Hmmm, I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out ... Please review! The more reviews I get, the more I'll update! 


	11. BANG!

Dag, I done lost all my reviewers for this story. I even sent out some e- mails to people telling them that there was an update. Apparently, my story isn't as popular as it used to be. *shrugs* Whatever, I'm still having fun writing it! ^__^  
  
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The gang is gonna be in this chapter! So I have to tell you about Yugi and his whole talking-to-Yami thing. I'm sure you know this already, but if you don't, here it is.  
  
/Yugi talking to Yami/ //Yami talking to Yugi//  
  
Oh, just a little warning, unless you're a 'prep' or a 'girly girl' or whatever, Tea is gonna sound really ... I dunno, I can't say anything without being offensive and I don't wanna offend anyone, lol. Well, read it and you'll see for yourself.  
  
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Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. THERE!!! I SAID IT!!! ARE YOU HAPPY?!?! *runs away crying*  
  
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BANG!  
  
The motel room door flew in, sending Joey and Tristan flying in with it. The loud bang startled Max and he turned his body fully to see what happened.  
  
"Omigod, he's got a gun!" Tea wailed helplessly as Joey and Tristan struggled to get themselves up off of the motel room floor.  
  
"I'll kill all of you!" Max screamed angrily, pointing the gun at the group of teens at the door.  
  
"Omigod! Yugi!" Tea cried, clinging to Yugi's arm and beginning to cry.  
  
Yugi tried to shake Tea off of him, saying, "Tea, PLEASE! I have to do something!" Seeing that he couldn't get Tea off by himself, he began speaking to the spirit of the millennium puzzle.  
  
/Yami!/ Yugi wailed. /Get her off of me! We have to do something!/  
  
//Fine// was the quick response.  
  
Quickly, Yami took over Yugi's body and hurriedly shook Tea off of him, only for her to continue crying and cling to Joey's arm.  
  
"What da! Tea, get off! We still gotta save Kaiba's ass!"  
  
"You're not saving anyone, you're all gonna die!" Max yelled, his thick Italian accent nearly clouding his words.  
  
As the scene unfolded before him, Kaiba began struggling to get himself up. Since Max's back was now turned to him, he would easily be able to get the gun out of Max's hand. Or so he thought.  
  
"Kaiba, be careful," Kea's voice whispered hoarsely as Kaiba began to stand.  
  
Seeing Kaiba standing, Yami's eyes widened. If Max turned around, Kaiba would be dead for sure. Thinking quickly, Yami asked, "Who are you here for? Why must you kill us all?"  
  
"Why I'm here is none of your business, and I came to kill Seto Kaiba!" Max yelled. Then, sneering, he said, "You all just get in my way."  
  
Then, just as Max went to fire the gun at Yami, Kaiba jumped on his back and knocked him to the floor.  
  
"OMIGOD!!!" Tea screamed, backing up against the wall.  
  
"Kaiba!" Yami said roughly. He rushed over to where Max was desperately trying to get Kaiba off of him. He stepped on Max's hand, causing Max to let out a loud, painful scream, and kicked the gun away from him. Ready to pound Max to death, he noticed Kea. "Oh by Ra," Yami said under his breath. He quickly began helping Kaiba by getting Max into a headlock, then loudly ordered, "Tea! Get out of this room and call an ambulance! Tristan, get Kea out of here before she loses any more blood!"  
  
Tea, still shocked by the entire scene, shaking said, "Omigod ... omigod ... okay." And with that, she turned and ran out of the room, banging on the nearest motel room door and screaming for help and for an ambulance to be called.  
  
It took Tristan a moment to realize who and where Kea was, then he scurried over to her, avoiding the fight in the middle of the floor. He carefully picked her up and began carrying her out of the room. When he reached the doorway, Kea stuck out her arm to stop him.  
  
"Kaiba ... Kaiba, get Kaiba," she said slowly. "He got shot ... He needs help ... Get Kaiba, I need Kaiba ..."  
  
Tristan, unsure of what to do for a moment, ordered Joey to get Kaiba out of the fight so he could go into the ambulance when it got there. Joey nodded and began taking action.  
  
"And that's for my brother!" Kaiba was yelling as Joey got into the fight. Kaiba threw a tough left hook and hit Max hard enough for him to fall over and knock him temporarily unconscious. Then, Kaiba stumbled and grabbed his right shoulder.  
  
"Ahh, dammit," Kaiba said, wincing and groaning at the pain in his shoulder.  
  
Nearly scared to touch Kaiba, Joey said, "Hey, Kaiba. Come on, man, the ambulance is comin'."  
  
"I'm not going to the hospital," Kaiba said through gritted teeth.  
  
"Kaiba!" Yami said. "You have to go to the hospital! You've been shot!"  
  
"A very nice observation, Yugi," Kaiba said, trying to withhold his trademark sarcasm while still in a state of so much pain.  
  
Getting a bit impatient, Joey said, "Come on, Kea was askin' for ya!"  
  
At those words, Kaiba looked up and reluctantly agreed. "Fine," he said, beginning to stand up. "But I want neither of you touching me."  
  
"I wasn't plannin' on it," Joey said quietly as Kaiba walked ahead of him.  
  
When they got downstairs, Kea was being loaded into the ambulance, and the paramedics were questioning the whereabouts of the other wounded person. Upon seeing Kaiba, they rushed him onto a stretcher and began putting him in a second ambulance.  
  
Tea was busy trying to explain everything to the short Indian man at the front desk, but her words became jumbled as she spoke. Yami took over and explained the situation, and also assured him that he would try to have Kaiba pay for the damages to the room.  
  
------------------------------AT THE HOSPITAL ------------------------------  
  
Kaiba had been fixed up and was currently in the waiting room with the others, waiting for Mokuba to arrive. It had been a few hours since he had contacted his brother, and he expected him to be there at any moment.  
  
Just as Kea's doctor walked into the waiting room, Mokuba burst through the doors and immediately ran over to Kaiba. "Big brother!" he exclaiemd. "Are you okay? Is Kea okay? Did you guys really did chased by the mafia? Does Kea really work for big scary Italian guys?"  
  
"Mokuba, calm down," Kaiba said, placing his good hand on his brother's shoulder. He drew Mokuba close to him and hugged him, saying, "Are you all right?"  
  
"Yeah," Mokuba said. "Nobody messed with me or the house or the computers or anything!"  
  
Kaiba closed his eyes and thought, *Kea. She must have made sure Mokuba wouldn't get bothered through all of this.* Then he shook his head and said, "Kea's doctor is here, Mokuba."  
  
"He is?" Mokuba said. Jumping away from his brother, Mokuba looked at the doctor and anxiously asked, "Is Kea okay? Is she awake? Can I see her?"  
  
"Well, you can't see her," the doctor said, shaking his head.  
  
Mokuba's face twisted into a confused expression. "Why not?" he asked. "She's my best friend."  
  
"No, I'm sorry," the doctor began, taking a deep breath. "No one can see Miss Shatsana."  
  
Kaiba eyed the doctor carefully. "Why not?" he asked.  
  
The doctor looked down at the chart in front of him and opened it, looking over the files. Slowly, he said, "Well, the gunshot wound to the stomach caused her to lose a lot of blood, I'm sure you know that. Since it took so long for an ambulance to be contacted, there wasn't much we could do for her. Shots like that are more often fatal than not. There have been cases of people living through shots as serious as these, but they are very rare."  
  
Becoming worried, Mokuba found his voice catching in his throat. "But ... Kea ... she's okay ... isn't she?"  
  
The doctor closed the chart and took off his glasses. He sighed heavily and wiped his eyes, somewhat avoiding the question.  
  
"Is she alive?" Kaiba asked suddenly. When the doctor looked up at him, he repeated the question, this time with more force and sharpness. "Is Kea alive?"  
  
The doctor looked at Kaiba, expressionless, and said ...............................................  
  
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*GASP!* So did Kea die or what?!?! I was talking to my friend who read the previous chapter before I posted it, and she said, 'Knowing you, Kea's gonna die'. So ... did Kea did? *shrugs* Maybe. Maybe not. Please review and let me know what you think, okay? THANK YOU SO MUCH! *blows kisses to reviewers*  
  
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EXTRA NOTE: Okay, remember when I said that Tea was trying to explain things to the 'short Indian man at the front desk'? Well, I have a couple things to say about that. First of all, that was NOT supposed to be racist or stereotypical that all Indians work in motel or anything like that. Simply: I was at a motel once and there was a short Indian man at the front desk and he was one of the NICEST people in the world, so I decided to put him in the story, lol. Also, I did mean Indian as in from India, and not Indian as in Native American. Just clearing that up because some people tend to get the two confused. ^_^ 


	12. Is she alive?

DO NOT EXPECT AN UPDATE TWO DAYS IN A ROW EVER AGAIN.  
  
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Well, now that we got that out of the way, lol. I'm still not getting many reviews, but for the few people that ARE reading and reviewing this story, I'll keep writing for you guys! (Plus, I think one reviewer is gonna shoot me if I don't keep going ... AHEM KORIKU!! I wrote a note to you below *points below*) Anyway, here is the next chapter of MOKUBA'S TUTOR. Enjoy!  
  
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is gonna be a lot of Mokuba. Mokuba, Mokuba, Mokuba. *dreamy sigh* I love Mokuba. Oh, and it'll be a lot of brotherly Kaiba bonding, too. I hope you don't mind. ^_^;  
  
A NOTE TO A FAITHFUL REVIEWER: O.o Dag, Koriku, I don't wanna be worshiped ... it's just a story ... Remember when you used to give me gumballs and airline peanuts and apple sauce? ... Yeah ... all I want is food ...  
  
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Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh! ... I dunno, but it'd be my name on all the cards instead of Kazuki Takahashi's.  
  
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"Is she alive?" Kaiba asked suddenly. When the doctor looked up at him, he repeated the question, this time with more force and sharpness. "Is Kea alive?"  
  
The doctor looked at Kaiba, expressionless, and said, "Barely. She's in critical condition, and my coleagues and I don't believe she'll be able to make it through the night."  
  
"Seto," Mokuba choked, grabbing his brother's arm.  
  
"I know, Mokuba," Kaiba said quietly, slinging his good arm around his brother's shoulder.  
  
"Can I see her?" Mokuba began begging. "Please? Please doctor, she's my best friend." Upon hearing his younger brother state this again, Kaiba tightened his grip on Mokuba's shoulder, seeing how much his brother really cared for this girl.  
  
The tears that were softly sliding down Mokuba's face showed the doctor that he truly wanted to see Kea before she died, so he had no choice but to let him see her. "Fine," he said. "But not now. It won't be safe until we know that the life support is keeping her healthy."  
  
"Life support?" Yugi questioned from behind Mokuba. He was Mokuba's height by now and had no problem looking over his shoulder. "You mean she's not breathing on her own?"  
  
"Sadly, no," the doctor said. "We'll have to contact some family of hers to see if they'd like to try to keep her alive or if they'd like to, for lack of better word, 'pull the plug'."  
  
"No! You can't pull the plug on her!"  
  
Mokuba's outburst startled everyone, and when he stepped towards the doctor, Kaiba was forced to take his arm from around his shoulder.  
  
"You're gonna let me see her NOW," Mokuba demanded.  
  
"I'm ... sorry, I can't do that," the doctor said. "She's in critical condition, I don't want to risk-"  
  
"I DON'T CARE!" Mokuba screamed, tears clouding his vision. He wiped his hand over his face quickly and demandingly said, "Where is she, what room is she in."  
  
"Wow, looks like Mokuba's got a little bit of his brother in him," Tristan noted to the others as they watched Mokuba get tough with the doctor.  
  
"I can't let you know that," the doctor said shakily.  
  
"DAMMIT, I SAID WHAT ROOM IN SHE IN!" Mokuba screamed. He grabbed the chart from the doctor and scanned it quickly, then hurled it onto the floor and pushed his way past the doctor, in a hurry to find room eighty-six. Kaiba, the doctor, and everyone behind him began following Mokuba, all trying to stop him from going into the room of the sick girl.  
  
"Mokuba! Stop! Please, you don't know what you're doing!" Tea called from the back.  
  
"Mokuba!" Kaiba yelled. "Stop!"  
  
Ignoring all the calls from behind him, Mokuba sharply turned a corner and threw open the door to room eighty-six. When he saw stopped him dead in his tracks. Everyone else stopped behind him.  
  
Kea was hooked up to machines on every side of her. Tubes stuck out from her body and she had IVs in both of her arms. One of the machines she was connected to showed her heart rate. It was slow. No one besides the doctor had ever seen someone in such serious condition before, and they didn't know how to take it. They were all stunned; to shocked to move.  
  
"Everyone out," Kaiba ordered. "Now."  
  
Without second-guessing Kaiba, everyone turned and walked out of the room, including the doctor, leaving the two Kaiba brothers alone in the room with a lifeless Kea Shatsana.  
  
"Is she gonna be okay, Seto?" Mokuba asked softly as he took a seat in a chair next to Kea's bed. His voice was cracking and Seto could tell that he was fighting tears.  
  
"Yes," Kaiba said securely.  
  
Deciding it was better not to question his brother, Mokuba looked over Kea, listening to the slow beeping on the heart monitor and thinking back to when she last tutored him just the night before, and how she kept apologizing for.  
  
"Seto ..." Mokuba began, slowly taking Kea's small hand into his own, "what was Kea apologizing about when she left the mansion yesterday?"  
  
Kaiba sighed and took a seat on the opposite side of Kea's bed. "The mafia wanted her to do a job where I was killed," he said. "Eventually, she tried to save me, but they traced my cell phone and found us in a motel. That's where all of this happened."  
  
Mokuba closed his eyes and squeezed Kea's hand a little bit, thinking for a moment that he felt her squeezing back. He sniffed and wiped his eyes. "I'm sorry, Seto, I shouldn't be crying."  
  
Kaiba looked at his brother crying and thought back to when Mokuba was younger and used to cry when even the smallest thing went wrong. He hadn't seen real tears from his brother since Duelist Kingdom. It shook him a bit, but he thought more of the situation at hand.  
  
"Mokuba," Kaiba said slowly, "give me a moment in here."  
  
Tilting his head to one side, Mokuba asked, "How come?"  
  
"Please, Mokuba," Kaiba said.  
  
Shrugging, Mokuba dropped Kea's hand gently and stood up from the chair. Kaiba saw his brother's eyes softened while looking at Kea, then he watched as Mokuba leaned over and kissed Kea softly on the cheek. "Apology accepted," he said softly.  
  
Kaiba's smirked a bit at his brother, waiting until he left the room to look back at Kea. She was the only person he trusted in his house with his brother, and he had actually grown quite fond of her as a person until he found out she worked for the Italian mafia. He was sure now, though, that when she got out of this, she wouldn't go back to Vinny.  
  
... If she got out of this.  
  
A rush of guilt coming over Kaiba for being so angry at her, even during her attempt to save his life, he slowly reached out and touched Kea's hand. Feeling how cold she was, he immediately drew it back.  
  
"Dammit you coward," he said to himself before placing his hand back over Kea's. Slowly, he began trailing his fingers up her arm until he reached her neck. Her muscles jumped a little and her heartbeat quickened, then again dropped down to its original level. "You have to pull out of this, Kea." Kaiba began speaking softly so that no one outside knew how personal he was getting. "You have to do it for Mokuba." Then, caressing her cheek gently, he more quietly said, "You have to do it for me. I have to ... apologize ... to you. For ... being a jackass when you were trying to save my life. And ... Mokuba's life."  
  
Kaiba sighed and let his hand run back down Kea's arm and rest over her small hand. He closed his eyes and lost himself in thought.  
  
Suddenly, Kaiba felt a small pressure on his hand. He immediately jerked his head up and looked towards Kea, who had opened her eyes and was struggling to contort her face enough to move her mouth.  
  
*Knock, knock.*  
  
Kaiba looked to the door briefly before turning his attention back to Kea. "Come in, she's awake," Kaiba said, monotone.  
  
"She's what?!" Joey said as he and the rest of his friends walked in. "I thought she was on life support!"  
  
"She is," Mokuba said, confused.  
  
When the group of teenagers looked to the hospital bed, they saw Kea fighting to breathe on her own, taking short quick breaths to try and get her words out.  
  
"Don't talk if it hurts," Yugi said, offering a few words of advice for the sick girl he didn't know well.  
  
Ignoring Yugi's words entirely, Kea continued struggling before finally mustering up enough of her own strength to say, "... Apology ... accepted." Then, cracking a tiny smile that was noticable to only Kaiba, she took one deep breath and added, "Jackass."  
  
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Awwwwww how cuuuuuute. Ahem. Anyway, I was gonna warn you guys about the mushy stuff on Kaiba's part before this chapter started, but I couldn't give away that Kea was gonna live. Heh. Sorry about that if it bothered anyone. And for all my observant people out there, both Kea and Kaiba's motel room number and Kea's hospital room number were eighty-six. Why? Because eighty-six is my favorite number. ^_^  
  
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HELP ME WRITE THIS STORY: Okay, people, I'm having a LOT of fun writing this story even if the reviews are somewhat nonexistant, lol. Since I finally left you guys with a chapter-ending without a cliffhanger, what do you guys want to happen next? The action/adventure is pretty much over and it's time for the romance to start, but I'm kinda braindead on how to make it interesting. I have a couple ideas, but I want to hear from YOU! *points to reviewers* Oh sorry, it's rude to point. *sweatdrop* lol, so let me know what you guys want to happen and I'll try to work it in! I like adding my own lil flava to this story anyway. So, please review and give me some ideas!  
  
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TALK TO ME! ^_^: E-mail me at kiseki86@hotmail.com, or IM me (AIM) at kiseki86. Or if you have Yahoo Messenger, my s/n is keester86. Or, *stops to breathe* if you have MSN Messenger (or Windows Messenger, whatever you wanna call it), I'm kiseki86@hotmail.com, or special k. Arigatou, ja ne! *waves* 


	13. There's a first time for everything

THIS IS A LONG CHAPTER! LONGER THAN THE LONG ONES I'VE POSTED BEFORE!  
  
I'm sorry, I just couldn't stop writing it. ^__^  
  
And I apologize ahead of time for what so many reviewers have been angry at me for in the past. You'll understand when you read my notes at the end of this chapter.  
  
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*happy sigh* I love my reviewers. I wanna shout out to my reviewers, but I know better than to make a whole chapter doing that, so check out the end of this chapter to see if I said anything to you! Anyway, here's chapter 13 of MOKUBA'S TUTOR. I'm so glad you guys like it, enjoy this chapter!  
  
(By the way, I wrote a little something about finals being over and grades going in for Domino High. I don't know how the school system works in Japan, but at my high school, once grades are in, it's not a REQUIREMENT to go, so that's what Domino is like in this story. ^^; )  
  
I know this is a long thing to be typing before I get to the chapter, but hopefully you guys will read it, lol. I got a request for more action, but I also want to get into some romance. So I've decided to incorporate them both into the story TOGETHER, only in a non-cliched way. Or at least I'll try, lol. Let me know what you guys think, okay? Thank ya!  
  
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Disclaimer: I would say that this disclaimer is for the rest of the story, but it's a tradition with all my chapters. ^_^ I DON'T OWN YU-GI-OH! IF I DID, I WOULD BE ON THE SHOW! *innocent smile*  
  
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Time passed and Kea's condition improved in the hospital. She was eventually let out to be left in the care of a personal nurse, whom Kaiba had ordered to stay in Kea's house for a while, much to the young Italian's disapproval.  
  
There was also no sign of Vinny since the motel incident. He hadn't tried to get in contact with Kea, and no one seemed to know where Max had gotten to, either. Happy with the way things were, Kea hadn't tried to phone anyone about what happened.  
  
Finals had ended in school, so not many of the kids bothered to attend classes once grades had gone in. Yugi and his friends usually hung around at Kea's house, where Kaiba and Mokuba were frequent guests. Tea was the only exception; she had flown over to America to attend a dance school in New York. On this particular day, everyone was gathered in Kea's TV room, watching a group of wild teenagers play the latest version of Twisted Metal.  
  
"Dude, ya smashed my hummer!" Joey wailed, observing the damages Tristan had just done to his car.  
  
"You shouldn't have picked such a crappy car then, Joey!" Mokuba put in.  
  
"WHAT?! Crappy! I'll show you crappy!" Joey began frantically pressing buttons on the controller and trying to ram Mokuba's spotless car into a wall.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey, Wheeler you just rammed me!" Kea yelled. "And watch it, you're gonna break my MultiTab, I just got this thing!" [1]  
  
Kaiba rubbed his temples, his eyes closed tightly. "Why am I still here?" he asked himself out loud.  
  
"Because you looooooooooooooooooooooooooooove us," Kea sang, taking her eyes off of the TV screen to tease Kaiba.  
  
"HA! I KILLED YOU! YOU'RE DEAD! EAT MY DUST, PUNY WOMAN!"  
  
Kea whipped her head to the screen and groaned, "Aw man Joey!"  
  
Yugi laughed at the scene in front of him. He moved over on the couch when Kea got up off of the floor to sit next to him.  
  
"So now that you're done with high school, do you plan on doing anything with your life?" Yugi asked Kea as she turned down the TV's volume with a small, silver remote control. Shrugging, Kea said, "I dunno. I don't have to worry about money at all for a good while, so I gotta give it some thought."  
  
"Why don't you have to worry about money?" Kaiba asked Kea.  
  
Kea looked at Kaiba and laughed. "I been working with the highest paid men in the Italian mafia since I was thirteen! They don't pay half-bad, y'know."  
  
"Hey, speaking of that, Kea, have you heard from Vinny yet?" Mokuba asked, pausing the game and turning around to face Kea.  
  
"HEY! I was about to kill you, Mokuba!" Tristan screamed. "Come on!"  
  
Mokuba simply rolled his eyes at Tristan and said, "I mean ... they have to talk to you SOMEtime, right?"  
  
"Yeah, and I'm expecting it," Kea said. "I got a letter in the mail from Venice, Italy the other day. Apparently, Mr. Salvador wants to say congratulations on making it out alive."  
  
By now, Joey and Tristan had stopped staring at the screen and had their full attention on Kea, who continued, saying, "What really freaked me out was that on the bottom on the postcard-it was all in Italian-Mr. Salvador had wrote, 'see you soon'."  
  
An awkward silence fell over the room and eyes darted nervously over the furniture. "Yeah, I got that yesterday," Kea continued. "And knowing them, that means I'm gonna get the call today. I just hope he's not up to anything, y'know?"  
  
"If he is ..." Mokuba trailed warningly.  
  
"He's not." Kaiba's voice came strongly into the conversation and he seemed sure of himself.  
  
"Well, I hope you're right, hun," Kea said, standing up and walking out of the TV room to the kitchen. She looked around as she walked into the room, remembering the night when Vinny stepped out of the shadows and hit Kaiba with a bat. She remembered how scared she had been when she saw him hit the floor, unconscious. Thinking of this bothered her, because she had never had any sort of emotions towards her work. But seeing Kaiba on the floor like that really shook her up.  
  
*Why?* she thought to herself.  
  
Kea heard footsteps behind her as she opened her refrigerator door, and turned slightly to see who it was. Seeing Kaiba, she turned back around and grabbed a Sprite can from the refrigerator door. "You want one?" she asked Kaiba.  
  
"No," Kaiba said. Then he forced the word, "Thanks."  
  
Kea smiled a bit and said, "Y'know, you've really loosened up since I met you. I mean, I heard every word you said in the hospital when I was knocked out that one time, and you seemed kinda ... I dunno, kinda like you weren't the same person."  
  
"And ... is that a bad thing?"  
  
"Hm? No," Kea replied as she opened her can and took a small sip from it. "It's just different. I like you this way. I mean, not being all mean and 'I'm-gonna-kill-you-if-you-try-to-take-over-my-company' and stuff."  
  
Kaiba chuckled. "I see your point," he said.  
  
"Good, let me make some more," Kea said, moving to sit down at the small counter in the middle of the kitchen. She motioned for Kaiba to come sit across from her; the distance between them very tight.  
  
"What am I in for this time?" Kaiba asked, smirking a bit.  
  
Kea gasped and slapped her hand against her chest in mock offense. "Why Mr. Kaiba, I'm appalled you would think such a thing of me," she said playfully.  
  
"Yes, well you DID try to have me killed, didn't you?"  
  
Kea's smile fell and she sighed, setting her gaze to the floor. Instantly feeling a sharp tang of regret, Kaiba placed his hand softly over Kea's and said, "I shouldn't have said anything. You saved my life and kept Mokuba safe the entire time. As much as I hate to admit it, I owe you. For Mokuba."  
  
Kea looked up at Kaiba and smiled. "Really?" she beamed, rotating her wrist to that she and Kaiba were holding hands across the short counter.  
  
"Of course," Kaiba replied.  
  
"Good! Then can you get this nurse out of the house? She's going into my room and going through my stuff and asking all these questions and it's bothering me."  
  
Smirking, Kaiba squeezed Kea's hand a bit and said, "She'll be out by tomorrow morning."  
  
"Thank you," Kea sighed, letting her head fall to the counter. When she looked up, she saw Kaiba truly smiling for the first time. Excited to see a true emotion from him, Kea smiled a bit.  
  
"I never see you-"  
  
"Shh," said Kaiba, cutting Kea's words short. He placed a finger on her lips and watched as her smile spread. Then, moving his finger directly under her chin, Kaiba leaned forward and kissed Kea slowly, as if he was scared he would hurt her.  
  
Kea was rejoicing silently in her mind and smiled slightly through the kiss. Sitting up in her seat and pushing herself forward, she leaned into the kiss, much to Kaiba's delight.  
  
Finally, Kea pulled back slowly and looked at Kaiba, smiling widely. "First- timer," she said softly.  
  
Kaiba's eyes went wide. "What?" he said.  
  
"First-timer," Kea repeated. "That was your first kiss, wasn't it?" When she was met with a confused stare from Kaiba, she laughed and said, "Come on, don't lie to me, I can tell."  
  
Kaiba stuttered a bit. "Well ... I guess ..."  
  
Kea fell back laughing. She grabbed her Sprite can and walked around the kitchen counter, stopping by Kaiba and saying, "It's okay, hun, there's a first time for everything." Then Kea leaned down and kissed Kaiba softly, drawing back and saying, "And a second time."  
  
And with that, Kea walked out of the room and back into the TV room to join the others.  
  
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"Seriously? Duelist Kingdom really only took place in a weekend?" Kea asked, sitting comfortably in the TV room with Kaiba's arm slung around her shoulder.  
  
"Yep, three days," Yugi said, nodding.  
  
"Wow, sounds like fun," Kea said. "I mean, with the exception of everybody's souls getting stolen and people nearly getting killed thing."  
  
Everyone in the room laughed, only to be interrupted by the phone ringing. "I yi yi," Kea said, shaking her head. She reached across Kaiba and picked up the cordless phone, pressing a button and saying, "Moshi moshi."  
  
"Ciao. Ti vorre parlare." [2]  
  
"I expected this call. I have to talk to you, too," Kea said, standing up and beginning to walk out of the room.  
  
"Who is that?" Mokuba asked before Kea could get out of the doorway. Kea stopped and mouthed the word 'Vinny' before walking out of the room to the kitchen. Immediately, both Kaibas followed her.  
  
"What do you want now, Vinny?" Kea asked as she took a seat at the kitchen counter. Kaiba sat across from her and Mokuba on the empty stool next to her. Kea added, "And don't speak in Italian, Vin, my head's too busy for that and I've got two fluent speakers in the room with me."  
  
"Ah, so the Kaiba brothers ARE with you after all," Vinny said.  
  
Realizing she had given them away, Kea threateningly said, "If you even THINK about touching them ..."  
  
"Don't worry, Kea, we're not concerned with them anymore," Vinny assured Kea. "At least not for now. Right now Mr. Salvador's more concerned with your well-being."  
  
"My well-being? He sent two guys with guns after me to blow my brains out and he's asking about my well-being? Is Salvador feelin' okay?"  
  
"Just fine, Kea," Vinny said in an abnormally cheerful manner. "I just want to let you know that we're not coming after you to kill you, we simply want to talk."  
  
Kea half-laughed. "Yeah, well do it later. I have company."  
  
"Not for long you don't ..."  
  
The line clicked on the other end and left Kea staring into the emptiness of the kitchen counter. In a sudden instant, she realized what Vinny meant and said, "Kaiba, you guys have gotta get out of here. NOW. Get everybody else and go, we've got trouble."  
  
"Trouble? What kind of trouble?"  
  
"I'll explain later."  
  
Kea hopped up off of her stool and ran into the TV room. "Guys, sorry, but I gotta break up the party. Trouble with Vinny, I don't want you guys getting into it, okay? I need you out of here pronto. I think Vinny's close by."  
  
It took the room a moment to let Kea's words sink it, then they all scrambled for the front door. Joey got there first and opened it, but stopped dead in his tracks.  
  
"Um ... Kea? What's with all the freaky-lookin' black minivans outside?"  
  
Kea sprinted to the door and looked out, seeing at least five black minivans in front of her house, and she saw some trailing down the side of the street corner that she lived on, as well. She slammed the door shut and turned around, saying, "Okay. Mafia's got the house surrounded."  
  
"WHAT!" Tristan exclaimed. "How are we supposed to get out!"  
  
"Basement," Kea said quickly. She pushed through the group of people and made her way to the basement door, everyone following obediently. She grabbed a black bag from the table by the basement door, throwing it over her shoulder and taking the steps hastily.  
  
"Me and Vinny have had to make quick escapes out of here before so we had some of Salvador's people put this is," Kea said as she lifted up a part of the wall in the basement, revealing a fair-sized stone tunnel with a staircase at the end.  
  
Mokuba stared at the tunnel, wide-eyed. "Where's this gonna go?"  
  
"Domino Park," Kea said. "Follow me, we'll get into the middle of the woods. There's a stable there where Vinny keeps his truck."  
  
They took the tunnel quickly, falling in step behind Kea's quick paces. When they reached the end, Kea rolled away a heavy boulder with the help of Joey and Kaiba, leading to a ladder which led to the ground above. Taking the ladder first, she pushed up the secret doorway which was covered by a large, phony rock, and helped the others out.  
  
"Man, this is really freaky," Joey said as they all followed Kea to the stable where Vinny's truck was being kept. Once they were all in safely, Kea began feeling for the light switch. Before she could find it, the group heard a loud banging noise from behind them.  
  
"What was that!" Mokuba exclaimed.  
  
"Shh!" Kea shushed him. She looked to where the noise was and saw that the heavy wooden latch had been knocked down against the stable doors, blocking their only exit. Knowing what happened, Kea cursed loudly and punched a nearby pile of hay. That was when the lights flicked on.  
  
"Well well well, looky what we have here," Vinny's heavily accented voice rang out along the stable. "I knew you'd try to get out this way. Thinking you escape in my truck, were you?"  
  
"Vinny, don't get everybody into this, just let them go, come on," Kea said, used to pleading with Vinny by now. "You're done with Kaiba, you don't even KNOW these guys, and I'm the only one you got any beef with, so come on."  
  
"There's one person you forgot to mention," Vinny said evilly. Seeing the confused look on Kea's face, he said, "How can I put you AND Kaiba in misery without ever laying a finger on either one of you? Simple." He smiled widely and said, "Little Mokuba."  
  
"You even breathe on him the wrong way and I'll kill you myself!" Kea yelled, shocking everyone with her sudden anger. The bag she had on her shoulder slid down her arm when she stepped forward, and she made no attempt to put it back where it belonged.  
  
"Ah-ah-ah, a little touchy on the little one, are we?"  
  
Kaiba heard a growl form in the back of Kea's throat and was surprised at how angry she was getting at Vinny. Kaiba also noticed Kea paying attention to the bag that was now on her hand. Her fingers were prying inside of it, and he secretly wondered what she was going for.  
  
Vinny's pointing his gun at Mokuba made Kaiba stand in front of his little brother, causing protest from the young raven-haired boy.  
  
"Hm. Killing both of you will be even better. It was nice knowing you Kaiba."  
  
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Kea yelled suddenly, whipping a gun out of the black bag she had been fingering and pointing it directly at Vinny. "Just because I got out of the mafia doesn't mean I went soft, Vinny Nocella."  
  
"Yeah right, Kea," Vinny said, not phased by Kea's gun. "You've never killed anyone before in your life."  
  
Kea thought of the words she had said to Kaiba in her kitchen earlier that day, then smirked, saying, "It's okay, hun, there's a first time for everything."  
  
BANG!  
  
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*falls over* I'm so sorry!! I know you guys always get pissed at me for having cliffhangers, and this is the third chapter that I've ended with 'BANG!'. lol, I'm so sorry, I just couldn't resist. I swear, I'll make it up to you next chapter, and if there is a cliffhanger, it won't be a big one.  
  
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[1] - If you don't know what a MutiTab is, it's an extension to a Playstation or PS2 or whatever other system (I don't know about the other systems), so you can hook up more than 2 controllers. That's how four people were playing the same game.  
  
[2] - I don't speak Italian. I only wish I could speak Italian. I asked my friend's dad, who's fluent in Italian, and he translated the sentence 'I need to talk to you', and he gave me the polite version, which translates to 'I wish to talk to you'.  
  
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And now, the time to say a lil somethin-somethin to my lovely reviewers, whom I love so dearly. ^__^  
  
Freckels J: HI JOEL! *waves to Joel* You reviewed my story like a million times, but it's okay! lol, I might put you in it ... dun dun duuuuun!  
  
Xanda: Kea and Mokuba getting together, you think? Hmmm could get interesting, but I'm gonna keep this fic Kea/Kaiba. Though a Kea/Mokuba fic wouldn't be a bad idea ... *lightbulb*  
  
Kaisa and her yami Kanou: *blush* Thank you! And yeah, I figured I better not leave a cliffhanger because I didn't know when the next time I was gonna post again was since my brother's got baseball games again! *doing patented happy dance* But getting reviews makes me want to write, so update I will do!  
  
Koriku: *glomps* My bestest reviewer! (No offense, other reviewers, I LOVE YOU TOO!!) You've been with me forever! Even when my other story got kicked off of FF.net! *mumbles incoherently* Thank you for reading my story and all liking it and whatnot and THANK YOU FOR THE GIANT 20-FOOT CHOCOLATE BAR!! *grubbin on giant 20-foot chocolate bar* And thank you for the idea of more action!! I think it worked out pretty well, what do you think? 


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